Thursday, January 02, 2003

Bioethics & Science

Clonaid Officials Announce Birth of First-Ever Cloned Infant; Scientists Skeptical of Claim

     Officials from Clonaid, a company founded by a religious sect that believes humans were created by aliens, announced on Dec. 27 the birth of the first-ever human clone, the New York Times reports. Clonaid's chief scientist, Dr. Brigitte Boisselier, speaking at a press conference in Hollywood, Fla., said that the infant, a seven-pound girl nicknamed Eve, was born on Dec. 26 to a 31-year-old American woman at an undisclosed location overseas. The mother and the cloned infant were not present at the press conference, and Boisselier refused to identify them, release their location, identify the scientists involved in producing the clone or "otherwise discuss the case" in order to protect the infant, the woman and her husband from media scrutiny (Canedy/Chang, New York Times, 12/28). Boisselier said that Clonaid, which was formed by a religious sect called the Raelians, began working with human eggs in January 2002 and implanted 10 women with cloned eggs three months later. Five of those pregnancies failed within the first three weeks, but five fetuses remain alive. The next cloned infant is due in Northern Europe next week, and the remaining infants are expected to be delivered by February, Boisselier said. Clonaid officials said the remaining pregnancies include one lesbian couple and two couples who used preserved cells taken from their own dead children to produce a clone (Stroh, Baltimore Sun, 12/28). Another pregnancy is an Asian surrogate carrying the cloned infant of another woman. The Times reports that Clonaid plans to implant cloned fetuses in an additional 20 women next month and will "soon begin offering the service" to anyone (New York Times, 12/28).

Independent Verification
The cloned infant born last week was expected to be flown home on Dec. 30 and "almost immediately" undergo DNA testing to determine the validity of the cloning assertion. Boisselier said that "perhaps by the end of the week or early next week" the final results of those tests would be available (AP/Las Vegas Sun, 12/30). At the press conference, Boisselier said that independent DNA tests on the woman and infant would be available in "eight or nine days," the Times reports. Journalist Michael Guillen, a former science editor for ABC News, said at the press conference that the Raelians had invited him to arrange for the independent testing and that he was neither a member of the group nor being paid by the Raelians to coordinate the testing. Guillen said he would assemble a group of "independent world-class experts" to conduct the tests (New York Times, 12/28).

Cloning Science
Clonaid reported that it created the cloned human embryo by removing the DNA from an unfertilized female egg and then using an electric impulse to "fuse" the egg with a skin cell from the woman to be cloned, so that the nucleus from the skin cell -- including the woman's own DNA -- becomes the nucleus for the "fertilized egg." The egg was then "coaxed" into dividing and growing and was implanted into the woman's uterus, where it developed as it would have in a conventional pregnancy (Ritter, AP/Philadelphia Inquirer, 12/28). According to USA Today, the "problem" with such cloning techniques is that the genes in the DNA taken from an adult cell are "programmed for the daily activities of adult living" while the DNA genes "instructing an embryo to develop and become a fetus have been shut down since embryonic development" (Friend, USA Today, 12/30). Scientists have attempted to clone only six types of animals, and, according to the Washington Post, the majority of the cloned embryos were miscarried or were born with "serious defects" (Roig-Franzia/Weiss, Washington Post, 12/28). The American Society of Reproductive Medicine said that it does not believe that "taking a clonal pregnancy to term would be possible in humans" at this time (AP/Philadelphia Inquirer, 12/28).

Skepticism and Worry
Clonaid's announcement elicited "profound skepticism" and "universal condemnation" from scientists, politicians, religious leaders and cloning competitors, the Boston Globe reports. Dr. Richard Grazi, medical director of Genesis Fertility and Reproductive Medicine, a fertility clinic in New York, said, "I think [Clonaid's announcement] has to be looked at with a grain of salt. It's probably a hoax. Unless this group happens to have a patent on how to clone a human being on the first few tries, this is not real -- unless there is something very different about human beings as contrasts with sheep and mice" (Smith/Barnard, Boston Globe, 12/28). Rene Herrera, an associate professor of genetics and molecular biology at Florida International University, said, "I get very suspicious. As a scientist, I need to keep an open mind. Bascially, the bottom line is -- do the test and see if the DNA is the same or not" (Merzer/Ottey, Knight Ridder/Philadelphia Inquirer, 12/29). President Bush condemned the announcement, saying through a spokesperson that it "underscores the need for the new Congress to act on bipartisan legislation to ban cloning," the New York Times reports. Leon Kass, chair of the President's Council on Bioethics, said, "If it is true, it is alarming and disturbing." In a recent report, the council said that human cloning for the purpose of reproduction was "thoroughly unethical and should be outlawed" (New York Times, 12/28). The Vatican, along with leading rabbis and Muslim clerics, on Saturday said that the claim of a cloned infant was "immoral, 'brutal,' and unnatural," according to the Associated Press. A statement from papal spokesperson Joaquin Navarro-Valls said that the announcement was "devoid of any ethical and human consideration." Muslim cleric Ali Abu el-Hassan of Egypt's al-Azhar University said, "Science must be regulated by firm laws to preserve humanity and its dignity." French President Jacques Chirac on Friday "vigorously condemned" the announcement and restated his call for a worldwide ban on reproductive human cloning. A spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that the United Nations was waiting for scientific proof of the cloned infant, adding, "In any case, no one should expect the secretary-general to send flowers" (Winfield, Associated Press, 12/28).

FDA, Congressional Involvement
FDA officials on Saturday announced they will launch an investigation to determine whether Clonaid illegally conducted any of its human cloning research in the United States, the Washington Times reports. Although several states have outlawed cloning, no federal law expressly forbids asexual reproduction (Murray, Washington Times, 12/28). In addition, some legal scholars and lawmakers question the FDA's authority to regulate cloning. The FDA in 1998 issued a letter asserting its jurisdiction over cloning when a Chicago-based scientist announced plans to attempt to clone a human. However, the Wall Street Journal reports that "questions have been raised" in the scientific and legal communities over whether the FDA is "stretching its authority" when it classifies embryos used in cloning the same way it does blood or vaccines (Abboud/Regalado, Wall Street Journal, 12/31). An FDA official said, "The implantation of a cloned baby into a woman is, we think, illegal in the United States without FDA approval because of fundamental safety and ethical concerns" (Washington Times, 12/28). FDA spokesperson Bradford Stone on Sunday said there is not yet a formal investigation into Clonaid's actions -- only an effort to "get the basic facts and find out what the circumstances were." Stone added that the FDA would only have jurisdiction over Clonaid if part of the cloning process took place in the United States (Greenhouse, New York Times, 12/30). The lack of specific laws against human cloning has prompted some lawmakers to speculate that such legislation may be passed soon after Congress begins its 108th session next week. "This launches a major cloning battle in the Congress of the United States, and specifically in the Senate," Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said (Hall, San Francisco Chronicle, 12/28). Although a proposed ban on cloning passed the House last year, the Senate failed to pass either of two measures to ban human cloning. Sens. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.) cosponsored a bill (S 1899), which was identical to the bill passed in the House, that would ban all forms of human cloning, while Sens. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Feinstein cosponsored an alternative bill (S 2439) that would ban reproductive cloning while allowing therapeutic cloning for research purposes (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 6/14). A bill banning reproductive human cloning is "likely" to be proposed in the Senate when Congress returns next year, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Brownback said, "While I am skeptical about [Clonaid's announcement], this points to the need for Congress to enact a permanent and comprehensive ban on human cloning when we return" (San Francisco Chronicle, 12/28).

Government Action in South Korea
South Korean government officials on Monday raided the Seoul and Daegu offices of BioFusion Tech Inc., the Korean subsidiary of Clonaid, seizing documents in an investigation into the company's involvement in what would be the world's first human clone, Toronto's Globe and Mail reports. BioFusion Tech spokesperson Kwak Gi-Hwa said he and the company's president were forbidden from leaving the country until the investigation is complete (Globe and Mail, 12/31). In July, the South Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare began investigating claims by BioFusion Tech that it has implanted a cloned human embryo in a woman's uterus. Human cloning is not illegal in South Korea, but the nation's parliament is currently considering a draft bill banning the procedure for reproductive purposes. Korean officials are concerned that BioFusion may have broken other laws and regulations. Under Korean law, a medical doctor must assist with any in vitro fertilization procedure. Failure to do so could result in a prison sentence of up to five years and a maximum fine of about $17,000. Korean law also allows for penalties for performing any medical practice that is deemed "immoral" (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 7/26). Clonaid set up BioFusion Tech in May and commissioned the company to seek applicants for human cloning and to assist in developing cloning technology, the Korea Times reports (Korea Times, 12/31).

Clone of a Hoax?
The Washington Post on Tuesday examined the similarities between the Raelians' recent claim that they have cloned a human and a hoax that occurred in 1978. On March 3, 1978, the New York Post ran a headline saying, "BABY BORN WITHOUT A MOTHER: He's the first human clone," which detailed the claims made by David Rorvik, a former science reporter for the New York Times and Time magazine, in a book called "In His Image: The Cloning of Man." According to Rorvik, he had been hired by an American millionaire to set up a lab on an unnamed Pacific island, where, after five years of research, a team of scientists had successfully cloned a man from one of his own cells. The next day, the Washington Post and newspapers nationwide picked up the story. According to the Post, in 1978, as with the Raelians' recent claim, a spokesperson associated with the cloning effort refused to identify the cloned baby for fear of "harmful publicity," lawmakers called for a ban on human cloning and scientists warned such a ban would "choke off medically promising research." In 1978, scientists took three months to determine the claim was a hoax, and in 1981 a court official declared the story to be a "fraud and hoax." According to the Post, scientists should "in theory" be able to determine the validity of the Raelians' claim within a "few hours" (Weiss, Washington Post, 12/31).

Who Are the Raelians?
The Raelians, who claim to have 55,000 followers in 84 countries, believe that extraterrestrial scientists created all life on Earth through cloning (Melnbardis, Reuters, 12/30). Claude Vorilhon, who founded the Quebec-based group after he says he was visited by an alien atop a volcano in France in December 1973, goes by the name "Rael," meaning messenger (Harakas, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 12/28). Vorilhon, who is originally from France and previously worked as a race-car driver and journalist, said on CNN, "Cloning is the key to give us eternal life and to cure all diseases on Earth, but eternal life is the ultimate goal." Vorilhon founded Clonaid in 1997 to pursue this goal, although he said that he has distanced himself from the company. He added that the company has a waiting list of more than 2,000 people who are willing to pay $200,000 to have themselves or a relative cloned (Siemaszko, New York Daily News, 12/31). Vorilhon testified before Congress in 2001 about his intentions to clone humans (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 3/5).

Media Coverage
Video excerpts of the Dec. 27 Clonaid press conference are available online in RealPlayer. The video includes Boisselier's announcement, a statement by journalist Guillen and Boisselier's description of the cloning process used by Clonaid. A video of commentary by Dr. Robert Lanza, medical director for Worcester, Mass.-based Advanced Cell Technology, on CNN's "American Morning With Paula Zahn" immediately after the press conference is available online in RealPlayer. In addition, the following broadcast programs included reactions to the announcement:

CNN's "Wolf Blitzer Reports": The segment includes comments from Glenn McGee of the University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics and Dr. Greg Stock of the UCLA School of Medicine. A full transcript of the segment is available online (Blitzer, "Wolf Blitzer Reports," CNN, 12/27).

NPR's "Weekend All Things Considered": The segment includes comments from Republican pollster Whit Ayres; Larry Goldstein, a professor of cell and molecular medicine at the University of California-San Diego; and National Right to Life Committee Legislative Director Douglas Johnson (Rovner, "Weekend All Things Considered," NPR, 12/28). The full segment is available online in RealPlayer.

PBS' "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer": The segment includes comments from Kass (Bowser, "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," PBS, 12/17). The full segment is available online in RealPlayer.

PRI's "Marketplace": The segment includes comments from Hastings Center bioethicist Dan Callahan. A full transcript of the segment is available online (Henn, "Marketplace," PRI, 12/27). In addition, the segment is available online in RealPlayer.