Ins and outs of 'China-US human cloning experiment' dispute

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, October 29, 2003

Ins and outs of 'China-US human cloning experiment' dispute

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The Wall Street Journal lately carried a piece of shocking news saying James Grifo, professor of New York University School of Medicine, is cooperating with Zhongshan (Sun Yat-sen) University, in south China's Guangzhou, for a tri-genetic fertilization experiment. The technique, accused of being similar to human cloning and capable of raising ethical question of a child having three parents, has drawn wide concern from the world's countries.

As is known, the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, the hospital involved in the dispute, is approved last April by China's Ministry of Health to conduct experiments of in vitro fertilization, embryo transfer, intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD).

Silence is the best way to clear up the facts

To deal with related media report, our reporter went to the said hospital to seek a proof of the matter, where he was received by a research center director, and felt the pressure put on the hospital by media reports and social opinion even before the dialog began.

"We think", he said, "in face of the problem, silence is the best way of explanation". This is the first sentence uttered by the director, who is also a medical expert. "For medical workers, a silent attitude is probably best for clearing up the facts. Actually we have no intention of clarifying anything and, as a person responsible for a research, I assure you that all our work is conducted within the framework of related state laws and regulations, for the sake of which we are once even considered as conservative."

All our researches are in the frontiers of medicine since we are trained for and engaged in that, the director said. What can be called beneficial? How to define medical science studies? Moving too fast won't do, neither will a too conservative attitude toward science. Some assert that the experiment, not allowed in the United States, is moved to China, such viewpoints, considered in conjunction with the experiment, are utterly unreasonable. The fact is, all people, while engaging in experiments, have very simple ideas. As medical workers, we are working for no other purposes than to explore ways for the treatment of human sterility.

Nuclear-transplantation technique is by no means cloning

The expert denied the charge of human cloning in a clear-cut manner, saying cloning is a copy of an existing person, whereas nuclear transplantation technique originates entirely from parents, the entire DNA genetic properties come from both parents, only very few DNA from the egg cytoplasm of a third person.

The expert affirmed that the technique is not born in the Guangzhou hospital, which has been observing the "Standards of Assisted Reproduction Technique of Human Beings" issued by the Ministry of Health.

New researches aimed at benefiting sterile people

Talking about the cloning technique, the expert said that medical workers like him are absolutely against it, since it is short-lived, low in safety and ethically unacceptable.

The expert further explained that they extract the egg cytoplasm of a third person to help sterile couples who may have secured test-tube babies, but hold back by mitochondria troubles.

The expert said finally that medical exploration, by its advanced nature, will never be conducted when all conditions are ripe. But when engrossed in professional techniques we should also spare some energy and attention to pubic recognition.

By PD Online staff member Li Heng

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