Nobel Laureate Warns of Dangers of 'Frightening' Genetic Research

PR 27.02.97 18:06

on Public Radio's The World

BOSTON, Feb. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the early architects of the atom bomb -- and a Nobel Peace Prize winner for his later opposition to the weapon -- calls for international controls on scientific research in an exclusive commentary on today's edition of the public radio news magazine The World.

Responding to recent headlines trumpeting the successful cloning of a sheep by British scientists, Nobel Laureate Joseph Rotblat warns of the dangers of such "spectacular and frightening" research in a commentary to be broadcast on the national news program this afternoon (CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS).

"A control on science is almost a contradiction in terms," Rotblat says. "However, the potential cataclysmic consequences of scientific research make it imperative to impose some limitations."

Rotblat compares the potentially harmful ramifications of unbridled genetic research to the superdestructive weapons that resulted from atomic research, and calls for the establishment of international ethical committees to provide some oversight.

"There will be tremendous opposition from the scientific community..." Rotblat says. "But every scientist is first of all a citizen, and the interest of the world community must be paramount."

Rotblat received the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to diminish the role of nuclear arms in international politics. One of the scientists involved in the development of the atomic bomb, Rotblat claims he left the Manhattan Project six months before the first atomic weapons test because intelligence reports showed that Hitler had no practical hope of marshaling the same technology. In recent years, Rotblat has called for the elimination of nuclear arms.

The World is an hour-long weekday global news magazine featuring a mix of international news, features, interviews and music. With program hosts in Boston and London, The World draws on a unique network of nearly 100 international correspondents, most of whom are natives of the countries or regions from which they report.

Co-produced by BBC World Service, Public Radio International and WGBH Boston, and distributed by PRI, The World is heard on more than 85 public radio stations throughout the country (CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS) and in Europe via America One, the English-language radio channel heard throughout the continent.

SOURCE WGBH-TV

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