Don’t let crazies
affect embryo policyThe issue: Three maverick researchers
vow they intend to clone human beings.
CLONING of humans may be impossible to outlaw throughout the world. Mad scientists do exist, and they will find a place, even if on the high seas, to perform experiments that most people regard as immoral and dangerous.That unfortunate reality has the potential of causing hysteric opposition to legitimate research on the use of certain stem cells that could be valuable in fighting disease. Congress should not overreact to the freak show that was allowed on center stage in a symposium this week at the sedate National Academy of Sciences.
Leading loony bird is Brigitte Boisselier, a chemist whose Bahamas company, Clonaid, is linked to the obscure Raelian atheist movement premised on the belief that all humans are clones of aliens from outer space. Boisselier suggested but did not declare outright that she already had performed human cloning experiments. Birds of a feather are Panayiotis Michael Zavos, an entrepreneur with laboratories in Kentucky, and Severino Antinori, an Italian fertility specialist who used in vitro fertilization several years ago to help a 62-year-old woman give birth.
The presentation came only a month after publication of a study by UH and Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers finding that clones of animals from embryonic cells -- the 10 percent that do not die before or after birth -- are abnormal.
The mad scientists explained that they would screen embryos for genetic abnormalities, a process that animals cloning experts say does not exist. "I don't think that is at all possible," said Alan Trounson, an Australian embryologist, dismissing the trio's claim as "ludicrous."
Trounson was among 28 respected genetic scientists, including the University of Hawaii researcher Ryuzo Yanagimachi, who were invited to the meeting at the academy. To a person, they were opposed to the trio's vow to press ahead with their separate efforts to clone human beings.
"Everyone is against human cloning," Yanagimachi told the Star-Bulletin's Helen Altonn after the meeting. "It would be too dangerous, too risky." For medical purposes, he added, "To use cells, there is potential there, but we cannot kill embryos...We don't know when life starts, but many people think life begins in an embryo. So this is a problem."
Human cloning is legal in the United States, where the Food and Drug Administration has asserted jurisdiction over human cloning experiments. The Bush administration has halted federally funded research using human embryos. Only a week ago, the U.S. House voted to ban human cloning even for medical research. The government should exercise caution in developing a policy but should not allow mad scientists to force them into extreme action.
Dobelle writes script
for a film schoolThe issue: The new university president
has proposed a degree in film
and TV production.
A film school at the University of Hawaii isn't an impossible dream and a degree program could capture students interested in careers in movie and television production. Still, film-making isn't likely to be an economic force in Hawaii and jobs for graduates aren't expected to blossom.Even so, the program should be explored. The showy proposals since the new UH president, Evan Dobelle, began work have been stimulating. He has generated a long-absent enthusiasm, on campus and off, for the university's future. His next step should be to pick the ones that have the best chance for success. He can't have them all.
Industry officials welcomed Dobelle's plan. The Hawaii Filmmaker Initiative already offers noncredit courses in digital film production on Maui, working with the University of Southern California's film school. HFI director Georja Skinner says several students from Hawaii have gone to the mainland to pursue degrees.
The film industry has grown, bringing in a record $125 million in revenue last year, mostly from movies such as "Pearl Harbor," "Windtalkers" and "Jurassic Park III" and television's "Baywatch Hawaii." However, only one movie and one TV program have been filmed here this year. Documentaries, sport specials and commercial ad revenue -- the industry's bread and butter -- totaled only $14 million in the first quarter this year.
Although Hawaii has developed a film-friendly reputation, the high cost of production remains a deterrent. Jobs are few and more often than not, film-makers will bring their own people for production here. Even with a film school, some of Hawaii's graduates would have to leave the islands to find work.
Some would argue that that's no reason to preclude a program; the university should offer students as many educational choices as it can, and, as Dobelle has proposed, it should work with business to develop employment opportunities that would help diversify Hawaii's economy beyond tourism and military spending. A film school could strengthen a niche industry.
Ka Leo O Hawaii
University of Hawaii
Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, President
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