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Source - The Telegraph, London Monday, March 12, 2001 'Irresponsible' cloning plan appals scientists By Roger Highfield in London Cloned humans could be born weighing almost seven kilograms, with distinctive navels several times larger than other babies', scientists warned yesterday. But a giant navel, a remnant of the oversized umbilical cord that inexplicably develops during most pregnancies involving cloning, could be the least of the problems facing Italian and American fertility doctors proposing to produce the first cloned human. Italy's Professor Severino Antinori and Professor Panayiotis Zavos, an American, announced they had a pool of candidate couples for the first cloned human, who could be born within two years. "Cloning may be considered as the last frontier to overcome male sterility," Professor Antinori said. "I'm asking all of us to be prudent and calm. We're talking science. We're not here to create a fuss." But British scientists joined the pro-life lobby and the Vatican in condemning the plans. The dangers of cloning were well known, said Dr Harry Griffin of the Roslin Institute, Edinburgh, where the sheep known as Dolly was cloned. He said the proposal was "criminally irresponsible" and wondered if Professor Antinori had liability insurance to support a cloned child who was unhealthy for the rest of its life. He said only about one cloned embryo in 10 appeared to develop normally when inspected under the microscope. But the microscope would not detect an embryo with Down syndrome, let alone more subtle disorders. Of the few that made it to term, about half suffered problems. Most had enlarged placentas and fatty livers. Human babies would be unusually big - perhaps about 6.8 kilograms - and would be likely to die within weeks from heart and blood vessel problems, underdeveloped lungs, diabetes or immune system deficiencies. Those that survived would have navels two or three times the normal size, said Dr Michael West of Advanced Cell Technology in Massachusetts. Cloned cows have been born with head deformities, such as a bulldog-like squashed face or head. They never survive. "Just before Christmas, we had a cloned lamb that was perfectly formed," said the Roslin Institute's Professor Ian Wilmut. But the animal could not stop hyperventilating because of malformed arteries leading to the lungs, and was put down. "What if it had been a child?" he asked. "Who would be responsible? What sort of life would it have, panting all of the time?" AAP reports that the chairman of the Melbourne IVF group, Dr John McBain, said the plan was "ethically unsustainable" and would "irreparably damage the reputation of other forms of reproductive medicine". The Telegraph, London http://www.smh.com.au/news/0103/12/pageone/pageone7.html *******