Name: Dr Severino Antinori Age: 55 Nationality: Italian Claim to fame: Trying to clone humans
HUMAN cloning is a subject as controversial as they get. And where Dr Severino Antinori is involved, it is just something that doesn’t wait for a global consensus. A known fertility specialist in his native Italy, Dr Antinori made world headlines some three years back when he claimed that he planned to clone the first human, with or without the permission of any government or religion. And that time, if we are to believe the latest word from Dr Antinori, is almost at hand. Just last week, he announced at a news conference that the first cloned human is expected in the first week of January, 2003. If his words are to be taken seriously, he is indeed going where no man has gone before.
However, believing his word is one serious bone of contention. So far, he has refused to identify the name or the nationality of the patients involved. He has also so far only said that he has made “cultural and scientific contribution” to a consortium of scientists involved in the pregnancies, thus ridding himself of any direct responsibility.
And when in the press conference he was asked as to where this woman will be giving birth, he found it enough to say that it will be in “countries where this is permitted.”
Over the years, Dr Antinori has developed an army of skeptics. Most of them have always questioned his claims and openly doubt that he is capable of achieving a cloned pregnancy. Dr Antinori is globally known to have successfully helped post-menopausal women achieve pregnancy, and that involves females of ages 50 and above.
In 1994, he set a world record when he helped a 62-year-old woman to have a child. But human cloning is altogether a different ball game. Human cloning is a diabolical issue as far as men of religion are concerned. A study of the devil some might say. In fact, it would be safe to say that this is one of the few remaining issues that men of all faiths agree shouldn’t be talked about at all, for this would amount to human interference in the process of Nature.
Still, bold visionaries or foolish souls like Dr Antinori — depending on whichever way you like to look at it — are not waiting for a common ‘yes’ from any lobby on either side of the debate. These are the optimists who believe that cloning will one day help to put an end to many diseases, make organ transplants easier, and give infertile men the chance to have children.
And if this experiment comes through successfully, which at the moment looks like a possibility, human cloning will definitely become a new chapter in the book of medical innovations. Whether it is good or bad is something that we will have to wait and see.
HUMAN cloning is a subject as controversial as they get. And where Dr Severino Antinori is involved, it is just something that doesn’t wait for a global consensus. A known fertility specialist in his native Italy, Dr Antinori made world headlines some three years back when he claimed that he planned to clone the first human, with or without the permission of any government or religion. And that time, if we are to believe the latest word from Dr Antinori, is almost at hand. Just last week, he announced at a news conference that the first cloned human is expected in the first week of January, 2003. If his words are to be taken seriously, he is indeed going where no man has gone before.
