NewsMax.com Wires
Saturday, Jan. 27, 2001

Dr. Severino Antinori of Rome said in a hospital lecture that he was treating 10 couples, including one American couple, who are candidates for what he described as a therapeutic procedure. Antinori said this was the first time he had made his intentions public.

"Whether we like it or not, we will have cloned individuals in the very near future," said Dr. Panos Zavos, a friend of Antinori, who delivered his lecture Thursday.

Zavos told Friday's Lexington Herald-Leader: "If it's done sensibly and responsibly enough, I think there is a place for cloning in this world. It's going to happen."

Antonini, 55, is known for his work in assisted reproduction techniques and in developing methods that have allowed even women in their early 60s to get pregnant. He said the chance to help infertile couples outweighed the ethical objections to his procedure, which he described as safe.

"Life is important," he said. "The goal to be a father, to be a mother, is a human right, an absolute human right."

Antonini said the cloning attempt likely would be made somewhere in the Mediterranean.

See more articles on human cloning.

Copyright 2001 by United Press International. All rights reserved.

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