Italian Doctor Plans Human Clone Within Year

Procedure Will Be Done Outside Country

LEXINGTON, Ky., 2:44 p.m. EST January 26, 2001 -- An Italian fertility expert says he's going to try to clone a human being within the next year.

Dr. Severino Antinori, in a lecture Thursday at Samaritan Hospital, saidthat he has about 10 couples lined up as candidates for the procedure, including one American couple. All are infertile.

He says that the cloning will involve taking cells from the man and uniting them with a normal egg. He then plans to stimulate the combined material to start cell division. After a few days, the embryo would be placed in the woman's womb.

"Cloning can yield healthy individuals. But I think that if it is done sensibly and responsibly enough, I think there is a place for cloning in this world, and it's going to happen," reproductive specialist Dr. Panayiotis Zavos said.

Antinori said that he envisions using the process only for people who have no other way to conceive children.

The procedure would have to be done outside the United States because the Food and Drug Administration does not allow human cloning.

Related Stories:

• January 23, 2001: Brits OK Cloning Human Embryos
• November 30, 2000: Japan Outlaws Human Cloning
• October 8, 2000: Cloning The Near-Extinct
• March 14, 2000: Dolly Creators Claim Cloning Pigs
• January 11, 2000: Cloning May Work For Extinct Goat

Copyright 2001 by ChannelCincinnati.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.