FOR RELEASE: Jan. 9, 1998
Contact: Blaine P. Friedlander, Jr.
Office: (607) 255-3290
Internet: [email protected]
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http://www.news.cornell.edu
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Following the media uproar over a scientist in Illinois who says he will try to begin human cloning soon, a Cornell University professor participated in an Internet discussion Wednesday (Jan. 7) to debunk and denounce the effort.
Robert H. Foote, Cornell professor emeritus of animal science and biology, appeared as a special guest on ABCNews.Com's nightly Internet chat. He also appeared on CNBC television, BBC radio and a live morning news program, Canada AM, on Canadian Television (CTV).
Almost a year after Scottish scientists announced they had cloned a sheep named Dolly, the cloning controversy reignited Tuesday evening during a radio broadcast on National Public Radio, when Richard Seed, a Chicago-area scientist, proposed opening a human-cloning clinic by 1999, which would develop up to 500 human clones a year. Almost immediately, scientists began denouncing Seed's idea as highly improbable now.
"We're not ready technically or ethically to go ahead with these studies in humans," Foote told the international Internet audience. "A lot more research needs to be done in animals, because it's not possible to do much [experimental work] in humans, even though Dr. Seed said a lot of information would come from his work with humans. He says he's going to try the same procedure that was used in sheep, and we don't know that will work in humans."
Joining Foote as a guest on ABCNews.Com was James Grifo, M.D., director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology at New York University Medical Center in New York City. A transcript of the chat is available at
Twenty years ago, many of the same arguments being heard today about cloning were being promulgated for in vitro fertilization (IVF).
"In 1978 we wanted to go ahead with [in vitro fertilization and related] research so people would not have to go through such a long trial-and-error process, involving a lot of time and money to bring the IVF clinics up to where they are today," Foote explained to the ABCNews.Com electronic audience. "We should learn from that lesson and go ahead with legitimate research on cloning [that will lead to medical advances and not to cloning humans]. However, this bizarre proposal of Dr. Seed's is getting a lot of press and will create a feeling in society and subsequent regulations which will hurt good research."
Foote explained that cloning is much more difficult than in vitro fertilization. "It's also much more expensive," he said. "To proceed along this route now will be very expensive for any patient for very little return. [That is] a much worse scenario than even IVF in its early days."
Last spring, Foote was among several scientists and theologians to testify before the New York State Senate. It was one of the first hearings to take place on the subject in a state legislature since Scottish scientist Ian Wilmut announced the successful cloning of a sheep. Media hype has contributed to public misunderstanding of the difficulty and potential complication of human cloning, Foote told the state panel. Much more research, along with ethical discussions of possible implications and applications in human medicine, is needed.
Foote also testified before the New York State Assembly Committee on Science and Technology in April and said that cloning offers scientists opportunities to help those suffering from medical conditions and that it has important implications for agriculture. None of this research designed to benefit humanity is being done by reputable scientists with the intent of cloning human beings, he said.
For more than 40 years, Foote has been involved in reproductive physiology. In the late 1950s, Foote used carbon 14 and thymidine radioisotopes to label DNA during spermatogenesis, to begin understanding sperm production for artificial breeding in agricultural animals. He also performed the classic work that established that all eggs in the female were formed as ovarian oocytes in the fetal ovary, meaning that an adult female will have as many eggs as she will ever have when she is born.
Animal reproduction research by Foote also led to improvement of animal health. He found the use of the antibiotic combination of penicillin, streptomycin and polymyxin, used for several decades to treat bull semen, helped wipe out Vibrio fetus, a disease that had cost the cattle industry hundreds of millions of dollars.
Despite science's efforts to clone animals, Foote has reservation whether Seed can succeed with his human cloning endeavor.
"I don't think the means [to clone humans] ... are here at the present time. We don't know if all of these techniques that are involved will lead to normal individuals. Remember, although Dolly (Wilmut's sheep) survived, many died during pregnancy or after birth. We don't know whether this might lead to abnormal babies ... because of all the manipulations along the way. I think it's too hazardous and improbable to lead to success at the present time," he said. Furthermore, there are many reasons why a human clone would differ biologically and especially behaviorally from the donor, Foote said on the ABCNews.Com chat.
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