In-vitro fertilization and human cloning – two sides of the same coin
LONDON, England, June 10, 2002 (LSN.ca) – The British professor responsible for the birth of the world's first test-tube baby supports the creation of human clones if the process is “safe.”
Robert Edwards, the former Cambridge infertility specialist whose work with the late Sir Patrick Steptoe led to the IVF birth of Louise Brown in July 1978, told London's Daily Telegraph that if “horrific” cloned animal abnormalities could be avoided, the needs of childless couples should take precedence over other considerations. Edwards told Severino Antinori, the Italian doctor who claims to have three patients pregnant with cloned embryos, that he was not opposed, “provided all the embryos after cloning are as normal as those after normal conception.” But Edwards cautioned: “He can't say that at the moment. No one can.”
Lord Winston, a Labour spokesman in the House of Lords, said cloning is not necessary to treat infertility. Josephine Quintavalle, of Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said: “You could never perfect cloning on humans without experimenting on humans, and that is something that the world has agreed should never happen again after Nazi Germany.”
Prof. Edwards' endorsement suggests that in-vitro fertilization and human cloning are in fact two sides of the same coin, as some pro-lifers have maintained.