US doctor visits London to find woman to carry cloned baby

Plans by a US-based doctor to launch a search in Britain for a surrogate mother to carry the world’s first cloned baby was condemned by Britain’s fertility watchdog yesterday.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) said that Panos Zavos, a reproductive specialist who is flying to London tomorrow to launch his appeal at a press conference, would be breaking the law if he implanted a surrogate mother with a cloned embryo in Britain.

The authority said in a statement yesterday: “The Human Reproductive Cloning Act 2001 makes it a criminal offence, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and or an unlimited fine, to place into a woman an embryo created by any means other than by fertilisation.”

Dr Zavos claimed in 2002 that he had created the world’s first cloned embryo and was ready to implant it in a surrogate mother. He said he had “seven or eight” other couples “ready to go” and he was reasonably confident he would be overseeing the birth of the first clone by the end of last year. That deadline has come and gone without sign of progress.

Similar claims have been made by others, notably the Raelian cult, who said they had cloned several babies whose whereabouts and identities were never revealed. But Dr Zavos has the technical expertise to achieve his ends.

He is thought to be coming to Britain to generate further publicity for reproductive cloning, which has been outlawed in the US and Europe. Suzi Leather, the chairwoman of the HFEA, said yesterday: “It [reproductive cloning] is utterly wrong and against the law. My understanding is that he [Dr Zavos] is procuring women to experiment on them.

“All the work [on reproductive cloning] in animals indicates it is absolutely unsafe and causes great suffering. No woman could make an informed choice to take part in this because, if she knew the risks, she wouldn’t do it.”

Paul Rainsbury, the medical director of the Rainsbury Clinic – soon to announce the launch of an embryo-splitting programme in Britain – will be alongside Dr Zavos at the press conference. Embryo splitting involves taking half a human embryo, implanting it into the mother’s womb and allowing it to grow into a baby while the other half is frozen and stored. Should the baby develop an illness, such as cancer, as it grows, the remaining half of the embryo can be thawed and allowed to develop to yield stem cells, which could be used in a treatment. The HFEA said that, under its code of practice, clinics were expected not to produce embryos for treatment by embryo splitting.

Read Another Article

Only half of nation’s senior pastors hold biblical worldview
Anonymous letter decries FLDS leader

Related News Articles Topic(s): Cloning Subscribe to Religion News Blog updates Subscribe to Religion News Blog [What is this?] Get Religion News Blog's headline by Email [What is this?] Follow Religion News Blog at Twitter Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults: ApologeticsSearch.com: Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs. CounterCultSearch.com: Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, and cults experts -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support. Find Related Religion & Spirituality Books at Amazon.com Cloning Possibly related... or Most Popular Religion News Articles Kent Hovind: Evangelist arrested on federal charges Beast’s real mark devalued to ’616′ Muslim Woman Gives Sex Advice on Arab TV Michael Jackson Confirms Conversion to Islam Kent Hovind, ‘Dr. Dino,’ guilty on all counts The fall and rise of Carlton Pearson Search False prophet Harold Camping sets another date for rapture: May 21, 2011 Watch the film Theo van Gogh was murdered for Kent Hovind — Dr. Dino — sentenced to 10 years in prison

Search Religion News Blog