Cloning plans conjure mixed reactions at 'U'

Independent scientist Richard Seed has big plans that make him the current Dr. Jekyl/Mr. Hyde of the medical science community.

Seed is a physicist with a Ph.D. from Harvard who claimed last week that he plans within the next two years to clone adult humans in a fertility clinic.

An order was given shortly after Seed's announcement by President Clinton to block funds on human cloning research.

"Seed is probably seeking notoriety and attention," said Philosophy Prof. Carl Cohen. "I think one ought to distinguish between the efforts of this chap's need and medical research in this area.

"Seed plays the role of a mad scientist," Cohen said. "People worry about what plans people like him have. I think the matter is being cast in a good guy, bad guy mode."

Cohen said Seed is provoking an "irrational and counterproductive reaction" by his sensational claims and should not not halt cloning research.

State Rep. Kirk Profit (D-Ypsilanti) is attempting to pass House Bill 4846, which would prohibit "the making of human beings in production labs" statewide. "This is not an effort to ban the cloning of human parts," Profit said.

"For me, life comes from one source, with a capital S," Profit said. "People are endowed with certain rights by their creator." When that creator is a lab scientist, "the whole notion of a patent on someone's life becomes a difficult legal and ethical issue," Profit said.

Groups such as Michigan Right to Life and Michigan Catholic Conference said that they support the ban.

Human cloning "so undermines some of the fundamental principles of American society that the only solution is to preempt it," Profit said.

LSA junior Aaron Freilich said he is not sure how much control the government should have on this issue. He also wondered about the ever-present ethical issues involved.

"If you create (a human clone), just from a cell, can you consider it a thing or a person?" Freilich asked.

School of Public Health Prof. Toby Citrin said too much legislation would serve to confuse the issue further. "Knee-jerk legislative reactions are not the way to approach this issue," Citrin said.

Also, not everyone agrees that cloning is an altogether bad idea, which has prompted some to challenge a preemptive ban. "This area offers many rich possibilities for the advancement of human well-being," Cohen said. "It would be a pity if people like Seed caused legislators to block research in this sphere."

But cloning humans won't be easy.

"The thing that has been missed in the press is the difficulty," said human genetics associate Prof. Jerome Gorski. The sheep clone, Dolly, was created after about 277 tries, which is a much smaller success rate than in-vitro fertilization.

Obstetrics and gynecology Prof. Robert Hayashi called Seed's proposal "appalling."

"It shouldn't be done on humans at this step of the game," Hayashi said. Hayashi fears that human cloning could turn into the production of a superior race, where only people who are smart or good-looking are cloned.

"It's so far from the natural selection concept," Hayashi said. "In- vitro fertilization is more natural. It can be refined as we begin to understand all of the mechanisms of the natural process."

Though many scientists agree that it currently would be dangerous to attempt human cloning, it could definitely happen in the future.

"I think technically, it's probably do-able," said pathology associate Prof. Tony Killeen. "I'm not at all supporting this as an ethical medical procedure because I don't think it is. (But) somebody will try it - that's human nature.

"I don't see any real clinical or medical needs to clone people," he added.

But Killeen said cloning animals could be useful for pharmaceutical purposes, such as breeding a strain of proteins into animal milk and using the milk to cure a human ailment.

Gregory Christman, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology, said production of hormones in animals might lead to better treatment of disease.

"Cloning in animal species has some very noble goals, but for people I have a hard time with what the goal of human cloning is," he said. "In humans, I think it's reprehensible."

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