The Competition for `the First Cloned Human` Is Heating Up

American scientists and Italian scientists are competing to announce that the cloned human would be born soon, so the competition around `the first cloned human` is heating up. Since the birth of a cloned human is near, the ethical debate around it is also heating up.

An American human cloning specialty company Clonade announced on the 27th, “There are five females conceiving cloned humans and the first baby will be born next month.” Clonade is a company founded by a religious organization `Laelien,` which believes the extra terrestrials created human using their cloning technology.

It was announced just one day after the Italian test-tube insemination specialist Dr. Seberino Antinori announced, “The first cloned human will be born next January.”

Dr. Brigit Boiselli of Clonade said, “Total of 5 females including 2 Americans, 2 Asians, and 1 European are conceiving cloned humans, and first, an American will deliver a baby-girl.” Clonade announced on July that 3 Korean female participated on this human cloning project, but it is not confirmed whether Koreans are included in this conception.

Dr. Antinori also announced, “The female conceiving the cloned baby is entering her 33rd week of pregnancy, and the baby looks like a boy weighing 2.5 ~ 2.7kg,” and “the other 2 female are conceiving cloned humans and they are in their 27th and 28th week of pregnancy.”

Some scientists including Dr. Ian Willmert of the UK, who gave birth to the world`s first cloned sheep, showed skeptical responses saying there was no evident. However, since Clonade and Dr. Antinori kept announcing their plan for human cloning for last 2~3 years and they fixed the time of delivery, many scientists believe that there is a good chance for a birth of a cloned human.

The reason why they compete insisting `the birth of a cloned human is approaching` seems to centralize the world public opinion to them and keep the hegemony of the human cloning research.

Clonade and Dr. Antinori has assured that the object for human cloning was for the sterile couples; however, many scientists has been criticizing that their real reasons were promoting their religion and personal ambitions.

Actually, if the cloned human is born, similar attempts seem to be continued in other places; therefore, there is a chance that the international competition over human cloning will be in full-scale.

As a result, the ethical debate around human cloning seems to be more heated.

Many scientists are worrying that there is a big ill effect that cloned animals have more chance of being miscarried, deformed, or having shorter life span.

The Professor Hwang, Woo-Suk, who gave birth to a cloned cow for the first time in Korea, worried, “I doubt whether this cloned human, if it will be born, will be normal or nor.” The Pope John Paul II ordained, “Human cloning is a blasphemy.