Cloning has been a hot topic in national news recently after cloning company Clonaid claimed to have cloned the first human baby in the world. However, animal cloning experts at LSU seem to have mixed opinions about human cloning.
Professors Richard Denniston and Robert Godke in the AgCenter’s Department of Animal Sciences are researching cloning cattle, goats and horses. Their primary goal is to clone a horse, which has never been done.
The department has been able to clone nearly a dozen animals so far. The actual cloning is not taking place on campus, but at the Embryo Biotechnology Laboratory located at the St. Gabriel Research Station in St. Gabriel, La.
Denniston said the department is studying animal cloning because it provides a valuable tool to increase the reproductive efficiency of agriculturally and biomedically valuable animals.
The School of Veterinary Medicine has been collaborating with the AgCenter on this research. The Vet School assists them by delivering the cloned offspring they have produced and helping them with the reproductive research of the animals.
So far, scientists have succeeded in cloning sheep, mice, cows, pigs, rabbits, goats and cats. Both Clonaid and an Italian fertility doctor, Severino Antinori, have claimed they cloned humans, but neither has shown any solid proof.
Cloning is nothing new to the world. Ever since the creation of Dolly, the cloned sheep, in 1997, people have been debating whether cloning was morally or ethically wrong. Some LSU students disagree with efforts to clone humans.
“People shouldn’t act as God,” said Jade Blank, a mass communication sophomore. Aimee Shamburger, a biological sciences junior, agrees and believes cloning is not a good idea because it doesn’t respect the sanctity of life.
      While the rest of the world was busy debating, scientists were busy conducting research. Clonaid Chief Executive Brigitte Boisselier said 10 women were implanted with embryos, and five of those women had miscarriages, while the other five led to pregnancies including the successful birth of cloned baby “Eve.”
Dale Paccamonti, professor at the School of Veterinary Medicine, said an implantation rate — the rate at which implanted embryo’s grow into fetuses — of 50 percent would be highly unusual.
In a speech to Congress in favor of human cloning, Boisselier claimed there are not high risks of defects in human cloning because there are hundreds of cloned mammals that are perfectly healthy.
According to Paccamonti, the defects vary by species. Some species seem to do well with cloning, such as goats, while other animals can suffer from cardiovascular, respiratory and various other problems.
“We have not had any problems in cloned goats, but cloned calves seem to have immature lung development,” said Denniston.
Boisselier also claimed to have received thousands of requests for cloning from homosexual couples, parents with deceased children, singles and infertile couples who have tried all other methods of reproduction.
According to CBSnews.com, after Boisselier announced Clonaid had cloned the first human baby, she promised to have the DNA testing done in one week to prove it. Clonaid, thus far, has failed to show the world this evidence.
Countries such as Britain, Israel, Japan and Germany already have banned human cloning. Human cloning is not illegal in the United States at the moment, but the Food and Drug Administration must approve any human experiments. The FDA currently is investigating to find out whether Clonaid performed any illegal work in the United States.
“There aren’t any regulations on cloning research with animals,” Denniston said. The only regulation with cloned animals is that the USDA will not let researchers sell products that come from cloned animals. For example, milk from a cloned cow cannot be sold. Denniston said in the future the government may allow it.
“Eventually human cloning will be possible,” Paccamonti said, but this will only occur when scientists know more about the effects of cloning on humans and when the proper funding is available. Denniston agrees that human cloning will be possible.
Clonaid was founded in 1997 in the Bahamas by Claude Vorilhon, leader of the Raelian religious group. Vorilhon calls himself “Rael”, and he and his followers, including Boisselier, believe they were created by aliens through cloning and cloning can give them eternal life.
They also believe, once they clone themselves, they can transfer their memories and personalities into their newly cloned brains.
“Clonaid has not proven their claim in any scientific journal and they are not a scientific organization,” Denniston said. He also said he questions their credibility because they believe they are clones.