The cloning debate at Mizzou

Andrew Fletcher, Corner Post staff

Oct. 23, 2002 - Conservation Auditorium in the Anheuser Busch Natural Resources Building was filled to the brim Wednesday when Ian Wilmut, the leader of the team of scientists who cloned the first mammal using an adult cell, gave a seminar, "To Clone Or Not To Clone."

In 1996, Wilmut and his team successfully cloned a sheep known worldwide as "Dolly," using a technique called nuclear transfer.

Nuclear transfer occurs when a cell is taken from one donor and an egg from another donor. The nucleus is removed from the egg, and the cell is implanted. The egg is then implanted into a surrogate mother, and when the specimen is born, it is an exact genetic copy of the original cell donor.

Wilmut's presentation lasted approximately 50 minutes and consisted of three parts during which he addressed the cloning process, why cloning is important and what type of progress he sees in the future for cloning.

Wilmut said he does not believe in the reproductive cloning of humans, however, he does advocate cloning human stem cells in order to cure or correct some human genetic diseases.

Wilmut has also come under fire since the cloning of Dolly for what some ethical groups call "playing God." He responded to this by saying that humans have been changing the environment - and therefore animals - for hundreds of years and that cloning is just another way of doing so. He also said that it is not ultimately his choice to continue cloning.

"Choices must ultimately be made by society," Wilmut said.

He said he hopes for the continuation of ambitious research in cloning in the future but with cautious application.

Wilmut also said he feels he has a duty to explain his research, and this is why he chooses to do seminars, such as Wednesday's. Most of his seminars are given at universities and academic societies.

The seminar was followed by a question and answer session during which Wilmut invited questions and comments from the audience.

Jacob Mongler, chemical engineering major, said he thought parts of the seminar were interesting.

"It was confusing in some places," Mongler said. "I thought the material was a bit over my head sometimes."


Story originally posted 10/28/02

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