REGULATION KEY TO HUMAN CLONING, RUSSIAN OFFICIAL SAYS

January 14, 1998

MOSCOW (AFP) -- A leading Russian geneticist said Tuesday the cloning of human beings would be acceptable if properly controlled by the state, contradicting colleagues who advocated a ban on such experiments.

Lev Ernst, vice president of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Science and an expert on cloning, told ITAR-TASS that "a well-researched breakthrough must not be banned -- it is impossible to conceal something in science."

"So the main thing that has to be done is to put all scientific work under state control," Ernst said, commenting on the controversy sparked last week by a U.S. fertility researcher who said he aimed to move quickly -- perhaps within 90 days -- to carry out the first human cloning.

The Russian Research Institute of Molecular Genetics appealed to lawmakers Monday to enact a law banning such experiments for the sake of mankind.

"The cloning of humans must be banned by law if mankind is to avoid absolutely unpredictable consequences," Vyacheslav Tarantul, deputy head of the institute, said.

U.S. scientist Richard Seed announced plans a week ago to clone babies for the benefit of childless couples.

The furore sparked by Seed prompted U.S. President Bill Clinton to urge Congress to vote a bill banning such experiments for at least five years.

According to Ernst, "a cloned human being, if such a development takes place at all, will only be externally similar to his 'donor'.

"The person's temperament will probably also be similar, since that depends heavily on the genes. But all the rest -- thoughts, feelings, talent and character -- cannot be duplicated, since all that develops through a massive combination of various external factors," Ernst told ITAR-TASS.

Nineteen European nations Monday signed an agreement banning human cloning, at a ceremony at the French foreign ministry.

The protocol, an annex to the Council of Europe's convention on biology and medicine, was the first compulsory juridical instrument banning human cloning, French officials said. It has yet to come into force and will do so only after it has been ratified by five states.

Russia was not among the signatories.