Outcry greets claim of first human clone breakthrough
THE controversial scientist who claims to have transferred a cloned human embryo into the womb of a 35-year-old woman was condemned last night despite scepticism about the truth of his announcement.
Dr Panos Zavos said the woman was post-menopause and her husband incapable of producing sperm. An egg has been combined with the nucleus of a skin cell taken from her husband to create an apparently viable embryo, Zavos explained. While the embryo has been transferred into the womb of the would-be mother, it is not yet known whether it will result in a pregnancy, an outcome which has a likelihood of only 30%.
Dr Paul Rainsbury, consultant gynaecologist and medical director of the Regional Centre for Reproductive Medicine at Bupa Roding Hospital in Ilford, who shared a platform with Zavos at the press conference, supported the cloning programme.
“I think [cloning] has a use for men who have absolutely no sperm. For couples who refuse to accept donor sperm their choice is either to try this technology (human cloning) or remain childless. I think this embryo was implanted. I have no reason to believe it didn’t take place.”
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