CGS-authored
Ethical questions about the wisdom of human cloning were the last thing on Lou Hawthorne's mind Saturday.
As chief executive officer of a Marin company that is attempting to clone pets for profit, Hawthorne well knows what can go wrong in cloning experiments.
He feared the worst for the now famous "Eve" -- purportedly the first human laboratory clone.
"It's reckless," he said, noting the combined morbidity and mortality rate in cloned animals runs about 20 to 30 percent in those carried to term, excluding miscarriages. "Any parent should be very, very concerned. The risk here is creating a perpetually ill child. Is there any worse nightmare than that?"
The post-Christmas announcement of Eve's birth by a bishop of the alien- worshiping Raelian cult and head of its affiliated "Clonaid" company has riveted world attention. To some, it's a classic science-fiction scenario that suddenly seems all too real.
Hawthorne, whose company, "Genetic Savings & Clone," offers to bank your pet's DNA for an initial $895 plus $100 a year, found himself playing the voice of reason amid the hoopla.
He...
As chief executive officer of a Marin company that is attempting to clone pets for profit, Hawthorne well knows what can go wrong in cloning experiments.
He feared the worst for the now famous "Eve" -- purportedly the first human laboratory clone.
"It's reckless," he said, noting the combined morbidity and mortality rate in cloned animals runs about 20 to 30 percent in those carried to term, excluding miscarriages. "Any parent should be very, very concerned. The risk here is creating a perpetually ill child. Is there any worse nightmare than that?"
The post-Christmas announcement of Eve's birth by a bishop of the alien- worshiping Raelian cult and head of its affiliated "Clonaid" company has riveted world attention. To some, it's a classic science-fiction scenario that suddenly seems all too real.
Hawthorne, whose company, "Genetic Savings & Clone," offers to bank your pet's DNA for an initial $895 plus $100 a year, found himself playing the voice of reason amid the hoopla.
He...