Genetically Modified Babies Inevitable
COMTEX Newswire
Freitag, 4. Februar 2000 04:23:00
Grahamstown (East Cape News, February 3, 2000) - Genetically modified
babies were inevitable, said renowned fertility pioneer Lord Robert
Winston recently.
Winston is one of the top international speakers appearing at Sasol
SciFest 2000, the science festival to be held in Grahamstown between
March 29 and April
The Daily Telegraph in the UK reported last week that Winston, a
professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Hammersmith Hospital in
London, said the quest to create a perfect person posed a more profound
challenge to society than cloning.
"In my view, we will certainly be able to make transgenic humans."
Lord Winston was speaking to the Royal Society last week to mark his
Michael Faraday Award in recognition of his contribution to the public
understanding of science.
During the lecture, he also discussed the inevitable use so-called germ
line gene therapy which effects eggs, sperm and thus future
generations.
The British government blocked moves in June last year to clone early
embryos for the production of tissue for medical treatments.
Winston expressed his frustration at this debate "I find it very
distressing that we should be going backwards.To be hysterical about
the use of embryos for tissue engineering does not make any sense if
you are likely to be able to save a life." This lecture will be
repeated in Grahamstown during the Sasol SciFest 2000.
Winston's TV series, Your Life In Their Hands, reached an audience of 8
million viewers and was one of the most successful BBC2 series ever
made.
More recently his 1998 BBC1 series, The Human Body, received world-wide
acclaim and won three BAFTA awards.
Winston's achievements include the first successful experimental tubal
and ovarian transplant in 1974.
His laboratory research led to the first successful diagnosis of
genetic disease in the human embryo.
By Ann Ashburner
Copyright 2000 East Cape News. Distributed via Africa News Online.
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Copyright 2000