The concentration of coverage news from all the sources that were available to the science site on the subject of cloning from the media, as well as from the Knesset's statements
Will the first cloned child be Israeli?
By Avi Blizovsky 11/03/2001
A team of researchers from Italy, the USA and Israel announced this weekend that within a few weeks they intend to begin preparations for the first cloning of a human being. According to the researchers, more than 600 infertile couples have already contacted them with a request to participate in the experiment.
The team is headed by a controversial Italian gynecologist named Dr. Severino Antinori, who became famous when he helped a 62-year-old woman give birth to a baby about six years ago. Also participating in the program is Dr. Avi Ben-Abraham, a native of Israel who now lives in Israel and the USA, who obtained the financing for the project. Ben-Abraham came in 28th place in the last Likud primaries. The third partner is Dr. Fanos Zavos, a doctor who deals with fertility problems and runs a chain of fertility clinics in the USA.
Since the birth of Dolly the sheep in 97, cloning has remained a very inefficient process, which may require hundreds of attempts to create an embryo and successfully implant it in the uterus.
Human cloning initiatives: We will work to change the law in Israel
12/03/2001
Dr. Avi Ben Avraham, the partner in the Italian-American team that claims to be aiming to clone a human, said yesterday that he will work to change the law that prohibits human cloning in Israel. In the coming days, he added, he will start organizing a lobby in the Knesset that will work to change the law. "We don't intend to do anything illegal," says Ben Avraham, "everything will be done in coordination with the appropriate authorities." "I returned from Rome to Israel in order to build the appropriate connections in Israel with the religious, political and medical levels, so that the group would be received with sympathy in Israel," he explains. "Nothing will stop us. If it is not done in Israel, it will be done in another Mediterranean country."
Ben Avraham yesterday provided the names of three other scientists who he says are involved in the project. One of them is the German scientist Prof. Karl Ilmensi, who in 1981 published an article in the scientific journal "Cell" in which he described how he and his colleagues cloned mice. However, despite many efforts, no one was able to reproduce the results of the experiment. Ilmansi could not be reached for comment.
At the head of the team in which Ben Avraham is a partner are the Italian doctors Dr. Severino Antinori and the American Dr. Panos Zaves. According to them, they have already been contacted by more than 600 infertile couples who wish to clone a baby, and the cloning process (genetic duplication) will begin within a few weeks. Yesterday, Ben Avraham added that they want to use the cloning technology for "therapeutic cloning", in which embryos are cloned in order to use their tissues for transplantation. However, they have not presented any evidence to support the claim that they possess the technical ability to perform cloning.
According to Ben Avraham, he intends to establish a new company for the purpose of cloning, through which the financial affairs of the project will be handled. In response to the question of whether he intends to issue the company on the stock exchange for the purpose of raising funds, Ben Avraham replied: "This could be a side effect, but that is not our goal." He refused to name the exact cost of the project, but said that "it is in the order of tens of millions of dollars". According to him, the budget has already been reached in full, he financed part of it from his own pocket, and the rest from anonymous private donors. "We are ready to start work", he added.
Scientists doubt the success of the project. "It looks like an attempt to pick on a sore spot for many people (infertility, OT) perhaps to rake in money," says Prof. Hermona Sorek, a molecular biologist from the Hebrew University.
Michel Rebel, who serves as the chairman of the National Committee for Biotechnology, as a professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics at the Weizmann Institute and as the Chief Scientist of the Interfarm company, said that in the Bioethics Advisory Committee of the National Academy of Sciences in Israel, discussions are currently underway with the aim of establishing a framework of rules that will approve the use of "surplus embryos" and cloning for research purposes aimed at creating organs for transplantation. According to Rebel, the stages of cloning must be gradually passed for the purpose of tissue development, after which successful clones should be carried out in monkeys and human cloning should only be achieved on a solid medical basis. Regarding the scientists' statements regarding the upcoming cloning, Rebel said, "It's a scandal, and it's a shame that Israel is involved in this, because it damages the image of research in Israel and places it as a lawless and even barbaric country, at least in the eyes of Christians."
{Appeared in Haaretz newspaper, 12/3/2001}
The researchers: a controversial doctor and Likud member
By Tamara Traubman 11/3/01
Media upheavals and harsh criticism from their colleagues are no strangers to the doctors who participate in the Human Tribe program. About six years ago, the head of the project, the Italian gynecologist Severino Antinori, helped 63-year-old Rossana Della Corte to give birth with the help of in vitro fertilization.
Many argued at the time that there were too many risks involved in giving birth to a 63-year-old woman, and that it was immoral for the child's parents to be so old. Antinori is 55 years old, he has two children. He defines himself as a devout Catholic, even though the church defines his work as "distorted" and "corrupt".
This is also not the first time that Avi Ben-Abraham, an Israeli-American doctor who is a partner in the project, helps raise funds for a controversial cause. In 1995 he was involved in fundraising for an experiment in which baboon bone marrow was transplanted into an AIDS patient. The experiment failed.
Ben-Abraham, 44, was born in the Neve Amal neighborhood in Herzliya. Today he owns a house in Caesarea and divides his time between Israel and the United States. He is the founder and director of "BioSante Pharmaceuticals", a biotechnology company from Illinois, which develops hormone replacements for those suffering from sex hormone deficiencies. At the beginning of last month, the value of the company's stock traded on the Vancouver Stock Exchange did not exceed one dollar.
Ben-Abraham is used to walking within the limits of science. He served for eight years as the president of the "American Society for Cryonics", which encourages people to freeze tissues, organs or their whole bodies in the hope that in the future they will be able to revive them. In 93, he caused a minor commotion when he claimed that senior officials in the Catholic Church - which vigorously opposes human cloning - told him that they support the cloning of a human from DNA found in the "Shroud of Turin", shrouds that some believe Jesus was wrapped in after his death.
In 99, Ben Avraham achieved a noteworthy achievement when he managed to reach 28th place in the Likud primaries. In the leaflets he distributed during his election campaign, he presented himself as a "world genius", who entered the Guinness Book of Records as the youngest person in the world to obtain a doctorate in medicine.
The third partner is Dr. Panos Zavos, an American doctor of Greek origin, who deals with fertility problems and runs a chain of fertility clinics in the USA. Earlier this month he left the University of Kentucky to take part in the project.
{Appeared in Haaretz newspaper, 11/3/2001}
Israeli law prohibits the cloning of humans
Although it is possible to clone humans for medical purposes, or at least there is no explicit prohibition of this in the law
by Tamara Traubman
The publication The fact that an Israeli doctor is also involved in the initiative to clone a person, led to speculations that the cloning will be carried out in Israel. In view of the fact that the team emphasized that it does not intend to break any laws, Israel is not a reasonable place to carry out the cloning.
In Israel there is a law passed by the Knesset at the end of 1998, which expressly prohibits the tribe of Adam and stipulates a two-year prison sentence for those who violate the law. Cloning is also prohibited by law in the United States and European countries, and bodies such as the World Health Organization of the United Nations and the European Union condemn attempts to clone a person.
However, in some countries where there are many IVF centers, there are no laws regulating cloning, such as China, Russia and India.
Recently, amendments were made to the laws that comprehensively prohibit human cloning. Last month, Britain confirmed that it had approved "therapeutic cloning" of embryos. In this cloning, it is allowed to grow the cloned embryos only up to the age of two weeks, and to use them only for research purposes and not as a substitute for conventional fertilization methods. Some scientists warn that the new British law will be the first step on the road to human cloning, but others believe that the medical benefits that may grow from the research justify it.
Israeli law does not refer to therapeutic cloning, and hence, sources in the Ministry of Justice say, there is no explicit prohibition on this type of cloning either. In any case, the validity of the law prohibiting cloning in Israel applies to a limited period of time, which will end in about four years, in order to avoid limiting possible scientific development.
Tamara Traubman
{Appeared in Haaretz newspaper, 11/3/2001}
Agenda proposals aimed at human cloning in Israel were rejected with a promise of follow-up
March 14, 2001, Knesset website
The chairman of the yeshiva - MK Abdelmalek Dhamsha. The proposals were submitted by members of the Knesset David Tal, Naomi Hazan Efi Oshaya, Michael Nodelman and Meir Proosh, and the Minister of Health at the time Nissim Dahan answered them.
Naomi Hazan (Meretz):
Mr. Chairman, gentlemen of the Knesset, at the beginning of the week it was publicly announced about my intention
An Italian "research team", with the participation of an Israeli doctor, to begin an experiment of cloning humans, or duplicating humans, and it was even announced, Mr. Speaker, members of the Knesset, that the first experiment would also be conducted in Israel.
Mr. Minister of Health - by the way, congratulations on your appointment. Mr. Minister of Health, you are surely aware of the fact that the State of Israel has a very advanced law that prohibits cloning. Therefore I imagine that the publications have no dawn for the simple reason that they are illegal. Experiments of this kind are illegal.
Minister of Health N. Dahan:
The experiments may be legal, the cloning is illegal.
Naomi Hazan (Meretz):
Cloning is illegal. But I draw your attention and also ask you. The law passed by the Knesset about two years ago prohibits cloning for five years, and perhaps one of the first things you should do as Minister of Health is to ask the Knesset to extend the validity of the ban for a period of at least ten years, because, Mr. Minister, human cloning is not moral, in my opinion. point. That is why any attempt to use the State of Israel as a laboratory for cuckoo scientists is clearly intolerable, and I suggest that we strengthen the law at your initiative in the very near future.
Just one more note. Tissue cloning is very important for saving human lives. Therefore, for the sake of the distinction, one really needs to differentiate between tissue cloning, which is a first-class tool in modern medicine, and the totally invalid tool of human cloning. Thank you.
Chairman E. Dhamsha:
Many thanks to Knesset member Naomi Hazan. Member of Knesset Efi Oshaya, please.
Efi Hosea (One Israel):
Mr. Speaker, Members of the Knesset, Honorable Minister of Health, we need to explain to the public what exactly is the cloning that we have been so alarmed about in recent days. I want to define in just one sentence the fact that cloning is the creation of a person not by a natural way of fusing a sperm cell and an egg, but by inserting a nucleus from a mature cell of a clearly defined human into an egg without a nucleus.
In the last week, three doctors, two from abroad and one Israeli, brought this issue to the headlines in the State of Israel. According to Israeli law, we are prohibited, according to the law enacted two years ago, to clone a person in the State of Israel.
The main problems, as I see them, are: 1. lack of knowledge The cloning process is done in animals - mice, pigs, cows, sheep and so on. In all these experiments there was very little success. Human cloning is an issue that they have not dealt with, and I am afraid that they will try to break the law in the State of Israel, also from the very fact that such an issue is being discussed under the pretext of the plight of infertile couples. What do those charlatans come and do? We are told that there is a problem in the State of Israel, as in other parts of the world, that there are infertile couples who long for a child, and here we are able to invent a new engineering miracle, and instead of the accepted natural way of bringing children into the world, we have a patent for cloning, i.e. duplicating children, and thus we will solve the problems The barren in the State of Israel and in the whole world.
I am saying here, that one should differentiate between cloning embryos for the purpose of procreation and cloning fetal tissues for medical purposes. That is, we can agree to goals such as creating pancreatic cells to produce insulin, or heart muscle cells that will help cure serious heart diseases, or allow deep, serious research into matters of this kind. But the research must be slow, careful, systematic and under supervision, in accordance with the law enacted in the 14th Knesset just two years ago.
Unlike charlatan companies, a highly developed biotechnology industry is flourishing in Israel, which is breaking ground in research on in vitro fertilization and sperm cell research. They should be given all the encouragement, by the state or through private companies. But we should not agree that people from abroad or people in Israel will come and make foreign and strange proposals of this kind, and if someone tries to act in this field we should take all the powers given in Israeli law to prevent this alarming phenomenon, thank you.
Chairman E. Dhamsha:
Many thanks to Knesset member Efi Oshaya. MK Michael Nodelman, please. After him - if he is present, the last participant in the debate, Knesset member Meir Proosh. After that, the Minister of Health will answer, of course, and then we will move on to the next topic on the agenda.
Michael Nodelman (The National Union - Israel Beitenu):
Mr. Speaker, Honorable Knesset, Minister of Health, last week American and Italian scientists announced their intention to continue their experiments in the first genetic duplication in humans in Israel, where the group of Israeli scientists is already working on cloning a dog according to the new method, not the method that was used in the case of the sheep. The same method is intended to be used by the scientists involved in human cloning.
The prohibition of human cloning exists in almost all developed countries - this is considered anti-moral and inhumane. Besides, the opinion of most doctors and scientists in the field is that the chances of success of genetic replication in humans are extremely slim, only 2-3%, but there is a high chance that the replicated embryos will become mutants. These are experiments that can pose a danger to human health -
both from the physical aspect and from the mental and psychological aspect.
After all, human reproduction is not done in test tubes, as described in fictional stories. The development of the embryo takes place in the woman's body, and in order to successfully implant one embryo, hundreds of human experiments have to be conducted. In Israel there is a movement that opposes animal experiments, relying on the fact that most experiments are inhumane. We are talking here about the experiments on humans. This cannot be legal.
In any matter human cloning cannot be predicted. The matter can create a variety of types of people and bring unexpected results. Therefore, it is dangerous for humanity.
I call on the health and legal system in Israel not to give a hand to such an act in Israel and to condemn the intentions of the doctors involved in the field.
Chairman E. Dhamsha:
Many thanks to Knesset member Nodelman. The member of the Knesset is retired - not present in the hall. The Honorable Minister of Health will rise and come and answer the bidders. you are welcome.
Minister of Health N. Dahan:
Mr. Speaker, Honorable Knesset, I thank the honorable members of the Knesset for bringing up for urgent discussion the sensitive and fascinating issue of human cloning. But allow me to say in a joking tone, that although you asked for an urgent proposal for the agenda, I can reassure you: in the State of Israel in the next decade, cloning of humans cannot and cannot happen. The technique is not yet proven. Even if they proved it on the famous Dolly the sheep, five years ago, since – – –
Tawfiq Khatib (Arab National Party):
- - -
Minister of Health N. Dahan:
If you heard another line - since then it doesn't even exist with us, and there is great doubt if it was an act of cloning in the research and scientific sense of the word "cloning". This whole issue of cloning embryos and cloning humans is more science fiction than practical science.
It is true that the Knesset hastened and enacted a law during the time of Dolly the sheep, her memory is blessed, and the law says that human cloning will be prohibited in the State of Israel. The name of the law is: Law on Prohibition of Genetic Intervention, Human Cloning and Genetic Modification of Reproductive Cells. The law was enacted in the State of Israel and accepted by this honorable Knesset, because not all ethical problems have been resolved. There are many ethical and value problems, and it is impossible that this should not be done with the overall agreement of the majority of the public in the State of Israel. The general public in all its shades must be involved in an overall national agreement, in agreement to the cloning of humans and embryos.
Since this does not yet exist, in the State of Israel the law states that for five years from the publication of the law, it is forbidden to do in Israel any act of interfering with human cells, if the goal is one of these: cloning a person, creating a complete person genetically identical to another person, living or dead. We all remember that we joked that it was possible to have two prime ministers, two defense ministers - -
Essam Makhol (Hadash):
We still need that.
Minister of Health N. Dahan:
– – two ministers of health. How does the Knesset member Makhol say, rightly? That's all we're missing. But, that's the way it is. If the clone succeeds, it might happen. Welcome, MK Ronan. As mentioned, any action aimed at bringing about one of the above is prohibited, and is a criminal offense punishable by up to two years in prison. That is why I can reassure the worried members of the Knesset: Human cloning will not be carried out in Israel in the coming years.
As it became clear very quickly, the publications in the world's media about an Italian doctor who declared his intention to clone a human in Israel within two years are nothing more than a coverless media gimmick, a gimmick that was able to give him free international publicity without being able to present any basis of an article or scientific research indicating any hacking through him or his friends. I said that at the beginning of my speech. It has not yet been scientifically proven that this potential of human cloning is at all practical. It is a scientific theory, but it is a theory of scientific research that has not yet been proven to be practical.
Members of the Knesset, you should know that the existing knowledge in the world on the subject of cloning is still very far from the breakthrough required to clone humans. Thousands of attempts to clone animals that are more similar to humans have completely failed, therefore – – –
Chairman E. Dhamsha:
Can we rest on our laurels?
Minister of Health N. Dahan:
on the contrary. The laurels should be on success. Laurels go to those who succeeded. Those who have not yet succeeded do not deserve laurels. Maybe the opposite. What was the opposite of laurel wreaths in Rome?
Mr. Chairman, although there have been few successes of this and that in cloning sheep, mice - but in humans? All attempts, for example, cloning of chimpanzees and monkeys, so-called great apes, chimpanzees, gorillas - have completely failed. Even in monkeys less similar to humans, all cloning attempts have failed, with the exception of a single success in cloning a rhesus monkey in the state of Oregon in the United States about three years ago. But since then all attempts to repeat the one-time result have failed. That's why senior scientists estimate that the chances of a human clone within two years are low, to put it mildly.
Even if the law allowed it to be carried out in Israel, and there was even a real chance of cloning a person, the intention to carry out such a cloning in Israel was destined for failure in advance. In order to clone a single creature, hundreds of eggs are needed that will be donated specifically to the cloning attempts. The Dolly sheep that I mentioned at the beginning of my speech was created after about 280 failed cloning attempts. You all surely know that in the State of Israel there is a severe shortage of egg donations, and the law, which is supposed to be placed on the table of the members of the Knesset next week, both the government law and the law of Knesset member Yael Dayan, will testify to the great distress.
Efi Hosea (One Israel):
Mr. Minister, with the chairman's permission, may I ask you a question?
Minister of Health N. Dahan:
If the chairman agrees.
Chairman E. Dhamsha:
Yes please.
Efi Hosea (One Israel):
I take advantage of the fact that you are both a health minister and a rabbi. What is the Halacha's opinion on this matter?
Minister of Health N. Dahan:
I'll get to that.
Dolly the sheep, which we talked about, was created only after 280 attempts. In the State of Israel there is a huge shortage of eggs. Knesset member Yael Dayan's law, which will come up next week, we oppose key sections of it. The government's law, which in our opinion is an appropriate, proper and correct law and which should be passed, reflects the tremendous plight of eggs in the State of Israel.
For essential operations, we can't find eggs, so do you think we'll donate thousands of eggs to him just to try? It is unthinkable.
In the framed article, Knesset member Efi Oshaya, you ask what is the opinion of the Halacha. I say this as a compliment, I mean, without delving into this subject; You asked me while standing on the stand. What comes to my mind right now is that there is no halachic problem. If the issue of cloning is done according to controlled rules, the purpose of which is to bring relief to humans, there is no problem with it. If it is done for other purposes - as in any science, where the purpose is a precious and holy purpose and it is done within a framework and with restrictions, that is, there will be no problem of incest, a problem of brother and sister, things like that that could be, maybe not, then there is no problem, on the contrary. We support any progress that comes to bring relief to humans. Of course we have the halachic limitations - not at the expense of someone else's life, even someone else's momentary life. We think that someone else's momentary life and someone else's long life are the same. No one can determine which life is more important, Reuben's moment or Shimon's century. If it's within those limits, we have no problem with it.
I say the answer off the cuff, without delving into the books.
Chairman E. Dhamsha:
What about the problem of when does life begin?
Minister of Health N. Dahan:
When does life begin, ask my friend Knesset Cohen. He did a tremendous amount of research on it. He also has it in the scriptures, and he even submitted a bill, that an embryo is called alive for everything.
This is also the opinion of the Halacha, by the way.
Chairman E. Dhamsha:
This is a subject of in-depth discussion.
Minister of Health N. Dahan:
Yes, Mr. Chairman, this is definitely a topic for discussion.
Rachaim Malol (Shas):
The chairman meant the political life.
Chairman E. Dhamsha:
Not necessarily, the deputy minister without a portfolio.
Minister of Health N. Dahan:
Political life never begins, it always just ends.
Compared to the media gimmick, which trashed the world media, serious discussions are currently taking place about the ethics of genetic research that can help cure serious and incurable diseases. The discussions take place not only in the health system but also in other systems.
Yesterday there was a discussion in my office, I can tell you, about organ transplants.
Yesterday I gave support to the issue of organ transplants, which can save lives or can improve the quality of life, such as kidney transplants. The Ministry of Health encourages solutions at the national, public level, to reduce the huge queue of people waiting for kidney transplants in the State of Israel, which today stands at about 1,200 waiting, out of about 4,000 kidney patients in the State of Israel; And every year, to our great regret, 500-400 kidney patients join us who need a transplant or some kind of treatment, and we would be happy to bring a balm, Mr. Chairman, to all these patients.
The Israeli Academy of Sciences appointed a special committee to advise it on the sensitive issues of the human genome. We all know the tremendous development of the human genome survey, and there it is really possible to bring, through the tremendous technological development of the human genome, a cure for many sick people. This committee is chaired by the winner of the Israel Prize, Professor Michel Rebel from the Weizmann Institute, and its recent discussions focused on the use of new techniques from the medical cloning of cells, for example. Cloning of cells is a very welcome thing. It can lead to tremendous development in supplementing living cells in humans. It is part of modern medicine in the 20th century. These tissues can be used for healing and saving lives. For example, pancreatic cells can be grown for transplantation in diabetic patients, or heart muscle cells that will be used to cure severe heart patients.
In order not to completely block research in the field of genetics, the law leaves an opening for the conduct of research and certain types of operations on these subjects. A condition for obtaining such approval is the recommendation of the Helsinki Supreme Committee on the subject of medical experiments on humans, and a special approval in advance by the Minister of Health, if he deems that this does not harm human dignity. I, your faithful servant, promise that any research in the field of saving human life, which is mainly tissue development and cloning, will be considered with seriousness and sympathy.
I will give an example of something that was published recently. Unfortunately, in order to transplant bone marrow, there are those who bring embryos into the world only to use up their bone marrow and transplant it into cancer patients whose bone marrow is damaged. Embryos are brought into the world, because as soon as it embryos, it is the closest to that sick person, and you can take it from him and implant it in him. This is a very difficult ethical problem, and the Ministry of Health gives its opinion on it.
The value of human life is very high in Judaism's scale of values. I can assure you that we will seriously consider any serious proposal for research that has real chances for healing and saving lives.
As a professional office, we will use the best experts in Israel, both from the field of academia and from the field of clinical work.
In conclusion, human cloning is currently a criminal offense in Israel. I can assure the members of the Knesset that the Ministry of Health will enforce the law in cooperation with the state's enforcement systems.
We will not allow exceptions. I am calling on the minister of internal security to cooperate on this issue.
Since I know that the police, unfortunately, are overwhelmed with work, serious internal security problems are facing them and they need to respond, it will certainly be difficult, but I'm sure they will find the right personnel if we need to, I hope we won't have to; But if we have to and someone decides that they want to violate the law of human cloning, I hope that the police will cooperate and we can enforce the law without any exceptions.
At the same time, we will continue to keep up to date with medical innovations and provide real assistance to life-saving medical processes, and we will not allow charlatans and media sensationalists to harm real research that can lead to saving human lives.
With a finger on the pulse we will follow the developments in the world in preparation for the future discussions on extending the validity of the law. The advisory committee, which according to the law is the Supreme Helsinki Committee, must follow the development of medicine, science and biotechnology in the field of genetic experiments on humans.
As stated in the law, the committee will report to me every year on the developments in this field. Towards the end of five years, we will hold a renewed discussion on the issue and make new decisions related to extending the validity of the law. The professional recommendations will of course be submitted to the Knesset, so that it can formulate and determine the legislator's position.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman E. Dhamsha:
Thank you very much to the Honorable Minister of Health. What do you suggest, sir, regarding the proposals on the agenda?
Minister of Health N. Dahan:
Since this is just an advertising gimmick, I suggest to be satisfied with my words and get off this topic, since there is nothing practical about it for the committees.
Chairman E. Dhamsha:
Thank you. I appeal to bidders. Member of Knesset Hazan?
Naomi Hazan (Meretz):
Satisfied with the minister's words.
Chairman E. Dhamsha:
Satisfied with the minister's words. Member of Knesset Efi Oshaya, are you content with the minister's words?
Efi Hosea (One Israel):
Yes.
Chairman E. Dhamsha:
Knesset member Nodelman - is not present.
Well, members of the Knesset, we are removing the issue from the agenda.
Doctors will start cloning human offspring; The first child will be Israeli
A group of scientists is working on the subject in Caesarea
Update 11 / 3 / 2001
A team of researchers from Italy, the USA and Israel announced this weekend that within a few weeks they intend to begin preparations for the first cloning of a human being. According to the researchers, more than 600 infertile couples have already contacted them with a request to participate in the experiment.
The team is headed by a controversial Italian gynecologist named Dr. Severino Antinori, who became famous when he helped a 62-year-old woman give birth to a baby about six years ago. Also participating in the program is Dr. Avi Ben-Abraham, a native of Israel who now lives in Israel and the USA, who obtained the financing for the project. Ben-Abraham came in 28th place in the last Likud primaries. The third partner is Dr. Fanos Zavos, a doctor who deals with fertility problems and runs a chain of fertility clinics in the USA.
Antinori and his colleagues announced their intention at a conference on cloning for therapeutic purposes, held this weekend at the University of Rome. Antinori said that he believes he will be able to create a cloned human within a year or two. According to him, there are "unlimited" funding sources for them, which Ben-Abraham helped to obtain. All funding will come from private sources, not government research budgets.
The place where the cloning will take place is kept a secret, but Zavos said that it might be "a Mediterranean country where cloning is not prohibited." The German weekly "Der Spiegel" reported yesterday that the cloning will be done in Israel, but the likelihood of this is low.
Scientists and doctors were skeptical and criticized the human cloning program. "This is an act of madness in every sense, and an experiment on humans that is simply dangerous," says Prof. Yosef Itzkovits, director of the Women's and Maternity Department at Rambam Hospital. According to him, "even if an apparently healthy baby is born, it is possible that during the cloning, defects were created that will manifest themselves in later stages of development, and today it is still possible to hypothesize their full extent."
Since the birth of Dolly the sheep in 97, cloning has remained a very inefficient process, which may require hundreds of attempts to create an embryo and successfully implant it in the uterus.
{Appeared in Haaretz newspaper, 11/3/2001}
Update 10 / 3 / 2001
The project will start in Israel, where the law does not prohibit it. This was reported this evening by the "Voice of Israel" with a quote from the weekly Spiegel.
Prof. Severino Antinori, one of the heads of the project said that he hopes to create the first cloned child two years ago. The newspaper Spiegel reports that a group of Israeli scientists is already working on the project in Caesarea.
Doctors from Italy and the USA said yesterday (Friday) that they intend to advance their plans and work for human cloning, despite the fierce opposition and doubts raised by scientific groups and religious groups.
The Italian Dr. Severino Antinori and the American Dr. Panagiotis Zebos said at a symposium in Rome that they are motivated solely out of the desire to help couples suffering from infertility to have children.
"Cloning may be the last means by which male infertility can be overcome and allow infertile men to pass on their genetic load," Antinori told scientists and journalists. "Some people say that we will clone the world, but that is not true. I ask all members of the scientific community to show patience and tolerance," he added.
Dr. Zevos, Dr. Antinori's partner in the human cloning project, said that he resigned about a month ago from his position at the University of Kentucky, following many requests from childless couples who sought to realize their longing with the help of the new technology.
As mentioned, the plan of the two received harsh criticism from scientists and religious groups, led by the Vatican. The scientists opposing the project claim that it is very doubtful whether Antinori and Zebos will be able to successfully clone humans, since the cloning efficiency - as proven in animals - is less than 2% and there is a serious fear that mutations and defects will occur in the cloned embryos.
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