Cloning v. clowning.

نویسنده

  • Davor Solter
چکیده

Cloning in all of its aspects has captured the imagination of scientists and the general public alike; the issue has engendered considerable controversy and violently opposing opinions. As witnessed during recent hearings held by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the safety of human reproductive cloning, not to mention the legal, moral, ethical, or theological implications, can provoke rather strong statements and apparently irreconcilable differences. The majority of scientists argued that at the present time cloning is not safe due to stochastic errors in genome reprogramming. They also presented a limited number of examples (see below) of incorrectly expressed imprinted and nonimprinted genes in clones derived by the transfer of nuclei from somatic and embryonic stem cells. Clowners—excuse me—cloners who vigorously advocated the need for human reproductive cloning (as an ultimate tool in the fight against infertility) claimed that they could check for the correct expression of these genes and use only those embryos that passed such tests. These reproductive cloning advocates apparently failed to realize that misreprogrammed genes are like cockroaches—where you see one there are likely to be many more under the surface. It became clear during this hearing that the would-be human cloners were not convinced by the calls for prudence and are determined to proceed with their plans to clone humans. While the would-be human cloners may have been dismissed by the rest of the panel, they were certainly able to transmit their message via the media to the general public and convince the latter that they know what they are doing, that they are careful and responsible scientists and as such are fully justified in proceeding with human cloning regardless of the risks. One can hope that reports, like the one published in this issue of Genes & Development in which Boiani et al. (2002) examine the expression of Oct4 in cloned embryos, will emphasize the futility of any attempt, at present, to select “normal” from “abnormal” clones.

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عنوان ژورنال:
  • Genes & development

دوره 16 10  شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2002