ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Monday, April 14, 1997                 TAG: 9704140155
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-3  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: ARLINGTON
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

HUMAN CLONING BAN CRITICIZED SCIENTISTS TALK TO ETHICS PANEL ABOUT FUTURE OF RESEARCH

Researching human cloning could lead to major advancements in such fields as organ transplants.

Studying animal clones is keeping researchers busy now, but scientists warned an ethics panel Sunday that a permanent ban on research into human cloning could stall medical progress.

For now, animal cloning gives ``the biggest bang for the buck,'' said Stuart Orkin, a developmental biologist at Harvard University's medical school. Scientists may fall behind, however, if human cloning isn't at least examined, Orkin told the National Bioethics Advisory Commission.

President Clinton formed the 18-member commission to study implications of human cloning after a Scottish scientist unveiled Dolly the sheep in February, the first-known successful clone of an adult mammal.

As the panel mulls over the ethical, scientific and policy ramifications of human cloning, Clinton has banned using federal money on such experimentation and suggested a moratorium on private studies.

Both Orkin and Janet Rossant, a professor of molecular and medical genetics at the University of Toronto, appeared to pique the committee's interest when they agreed that human cloning may be premature while so much is left to study in animals.

``Is it possible that we can do most of the basic science on animals ... without ever creating an entity which many people find offensive?'' asked commission member Thomas Murray, director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

Orkin did not advocate widespread cloning of animals. Plenty of research is left to do that would not necessitate further cloning of any kind, he said. But researching human cloning could lead to major advancements in such fields as organ transplantation.

``I'm not comfortable with the notion of banning any kind of research,'' Orkin said. ``However, I am comfortable with moratoria on the implantation'' of cloned human embryos because of the ``inherent risks that I think are unacceptable.''

Rossant said because not all animal research is directly applicable to humans, the board should ``avoid prohibiting legitimate research into animals or humans [because] it really has big potential for immense benefits in the future.''

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