Alumnus Plans to Clone Humans

Dr. Richard H. Seed '49 recently became the center of controversy when he announced his intention to clone a human within the next 18 months.

Seed, a retired scientist living in Chicago, presented his plan at a convention on human cloning held last December.

Four couples are already on the waiting list to clone a child, according to Seed.

It was not until he appeared on National Public Radio (NPR) on Jan. 6 that scientists began to take his proposal seriously, causing politicians to push for legislation restricting human cloning.

Harvard scientists said Seed is acting prematurely and that more time is needed to resolve the ethical implications of cloning humans.

"My own perspective is that it is premature to move to human subjects," said Kass Professor of the History of Medicine Allan Brandt.

Brandt added that Seed stepped "outside of the boundaries" of current social norms by ignoring all of the necessary intermediate measures.

"There are a series of steps that one might have anticipated between Dolly and serious cloning," Brandt said.

Despite widespread fears about the immorality of cloning humans, scientists say cloning can reap significant scientific and medical benefits.

The production of skin tissue for grafting purposes or perfectly-matched bone marrow are two of the most commonly mentioned benefits of human cloning, and scientists fear Seed's proclamation will deter their efforts to develop such potentially life-saving derivatives, casting them as monsters and mad scientists.

Many doubt Seed's credentials as a scientist and think he is only trying to get attention. His expertise is in physics, not biology, and his Harvard research concerned the nuclear transmutations of subatomic particles.

Seed received a masters in physics from Harvard in 1951 and a doctorate in philosophy in 1953.

Most scientists and lawmakers agree with Dr. Norbert Gleicher, chief executive officer at the Center for Human Reproduction in Chicago, who seriously the feasibility of Seed's project.

"I doubt very much that somebody who is out of the scientific mainstream and has no experience with current reproductive technology will do it," Gleicher said.

Seed also told NPR he has no money and no scientists who would commit to helping him with the cloning

Also impacted by Seed's announcement is the movement for more stringent governmental regulation of cloning research. Legislation against cloning looms in Washington, where lawmakers banned indefinitely the appropriation of any federal funds for research with human cloning as a final objective last year.

European countries are also paving the way toward stricter regulation. Nineteen countries there outlawed the use of cloning to create babies at a conference in Paris last week. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) stated that she would introduce similar legislation to outlaw the same procedure for 10 years.