Because on 165438+1October 26th, the famous Italian embryologist Antinori threw out a news that shocked the world: the world's first "clone" will be born in the first week of June 26th, 2003! For a time, the world was in an uproar, but this scientist with unusual behavior, known as "clone madman" and "witch doctor", resolutely refused to disclose the situation of pregnant women and the place of delivery.
The woman who is pregnant with cloned embryos has been pregnant for 33 weeks. B-ultrasound shows that the fetus is male and currently weighs about 2.7 kg.
At present, Antinori only announces to the outside world that the woman who cloned the embryo has been pregnant for 33 weeks, and B-ultrasound shows that the fetus is male, weighing about 2.7 kg at present and developing well. As early as August 20001year, Antinori announced his plan of human cloning at the meeting of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, USA. At that time, Antinori wanted to adopt a technique similar to Dolly's cloned sheep: take out the nucleus from her husband's cell, put it into one of her wife's eggs that had been taken out, and then implant the fertilized egg into her uterus. Ten months later, the baby can be born. In April and May this year, Antinori threw out the explosive news that "human cloning is already in the process of gestation". He claimed that cloned embryos in three women were already being conceived, one in an Arab country and the other two in a country of the former Soviet Union, and the pregnancy time was 9 weeks, 7 weeks and 6 weeks respectively.
Is this woman announced this time one of the three women mentioned above? Antinori refused to disclose.
A Korean company selected three women from 65,438+00 volunteers and implanted a cloned embryo into one of them in May.
Antinori is not the only medical person in the world who intends to break into the forbidden zone of "human cloning". On July 23rd this year, a Korean company announced that it had implanted cloned human embryos into a Korean woman two months ago. This Korean woman is pregnant and will give birth to the world's first cloned baby in six months. This Korean company is actually registered in Korea by American "Clone Aid" company, which is famous for conducting human cloning experiments. Guo Jihe, a spokesman for the company, said that they selected three women from 10 volunteers and implanted embryos into one of them in May. Now we are waiting for the birth of "cloned baby".
Cloning tadpoles triggered the first debate about cloning.
Cloning technology can be traced back to 64 years ago. 1938, Hans Spearman, a German embryologist, suggested that adult nuclei should be implanted into eggs for mammalian cloning. 1962, American developmental biologist john gurdon announced that he had cloned a tadpole from an adult cell, which triggered the first debate about cloning. Later, the world-famous British scientist Wilmut 1996, the father of cloning, bred Dolly, a cloned sheep. In 2000, a monkey named Tetra was born. He was successfully cloned and propagated by American scientists using asexual reproduction technology, which means that there is no technical obstacle to cloning human beings.
More than 4% genes in cloned mice are abnormally expressed.
Many experts in the world question the "cloned baby" bred by Antinori. Italian scientists pointed out that cloning animal embryos requires a lot of experiments, and the success rate is only a few hundred percent. Cloning human embryos will be more difficult. Antinori simply does not have the ability to clone human beings. Antinori's former partner, American scientist zavos, also questioned his words.
The research team of Jayne Richter, a biologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, conducted molecular analysis on cloned mice. It was found that more than 4% genes in cloned mice were abnormally expressed: either twice or only half of the normal level. Experiments have proved that cloned animals have many defects, including obesity, pneumonia, liver weakness and premature death, and even most cloned eggs can not lead to successful pregnancy. Scientists say that these symptoms are just the tip of the iceberg, and more defects have not been discovered. They believe that it is wrong to judge whether cloning is feasible only by appearance and a successful case of cloning, and more detailed analysis should be carried out at the molecular level. Therefore, it is "unsafe and inhuman" to make babies by cloning.
Hans Cheller, a molecular biologist at the College of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, said: "I am opposed to reproductive cloning of human beings. At present, the success rate of cloning technology is still low. Before Dolly successfully propagated, many Scottish sheep died in the experiment. Many cloned animals will die soon after birth, which is cruel. It would be even more cruel if someone did such an experiment. We have no right to create life or interfere with the evolution of nature. "
An Italian bill stipulates that anyone who tries to clone a human body can be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
Because human cloning will involve social ethics and order, government departments pay special attention to it. Italy's House of Representatives recently voted to pass a bill on artificial reproduction. The bill stipulates that people who attempt to clone human beings can be sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in prison and the freezing of embryos is prohibited. This is the first bill in Italy so far, but it is still unknown whether it can pass the Senate's deliberation.
The South Korean government is also very dissatisfied with the human cloning incident in the country. Lee Doo-li, spokesman of the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Korea, said that the South Korean government has set up a four-person investigation team and has begun to investigate the human cloning incident.
Investigate the public's views on human cloning in China.
At 6: 05pm on 200113, a cloned bull named Kangkang was born in the Animal Embryo Engineering Center of Shandong Laiyang Agricultural College in China. 165438+1at noon on October 6th, 12: 08, another cloned heifer named Shuangshuang was born here. China's cloning technology does not lag behind the world. But so far, no scientist in our country intends to clone "human".
At that time, artificial insemination and IVF were initially rejected by people, and then gradually accepted. There are still single women who want to get pregnant by artificial means. If the technology of "human cloning" is perfect, can it be accepted by society?
Han Haiyan (worked in Italy for four years): Antinori's attempt to clone human beings is generally opposed in Italy, because Italy is a Catholic country and even abortion is not accepted. The Pope once said that if human beings are really cloned, they need judicial intervention. I think, after all, human cloning is not a normal baby, and it will definitely attract much attention. How should he live in the future? Can you live a normal life? Moreover, he has to go through various experiments and draw blood to take cells, which is cruel. Furthermore, what should I do if I find defects during my growth? After all, it is a person. You can't just execute him!
Li Juan (who has been working in state organs): This goes against the law of natural growth. Although it is the development of science and technology, after all, people's real life should not only have material development, but also have spiritual development. At present, the bearing capacity of society has not kept up, and it has not been recognized by most people.
Lawyer Zhang (working in a famous law firm in Beijing): Normal fertility is actually cell reproduction. From the psychological point of view, human reproduction is a continuation of self, and cloning can also complete this continuation. Moreover, it must be admitted that this is a great progress in science and technology, which is certainly of great benefit to the treatment of human diseases, but we must consider whether it will affect social order and legal order.
Le Kang (Director, Biology Bureau, China Academy of Sciences): Although this matter has certain significance in terms of technology itself, we should resolutely oppose human cloning, treat cloning technology with caution, and take measures to ban it as soon as possible, especially through legislation. We should keep the cloning technology, but we should be cautious when applying it, and scientific exploration should be carried out under strict experimental and legal conditions.
Li (Professor of Stem Cell Research in Peking University): Scientists in China are well aware of opposing human cloning, because it is irresponsible and will bring many unpredictable problems. People are social people. After the clone comes out, there will be problems in people's heredity, marriage and blood relationship.
Chen Dayuan (authoritative expert on giant panda cloning, professor of China Academy of Sciences): Scientists in China have specially discussed the issue of cloning at many meetings. Most scientists and scientists have reached a consensus on the issue of human cloning, and clearly expressed their opposition to human cloning experiments.