BODY: Among the lineup of
experts at today's congressional hearing on human
cloning is physician Michael Soules of the American Society of
Reproductive Medicine, which represents 9,000 in vitro fertilization experts. Soules' prepared testimony states that the society is opposed to human cloning. But Panos Zavos, the
controversial scientist who announced recently that he would clone a
human within two years, is an ASRM member.
"First, ASRM finds unacceptable any attempt at
reproductive cloning of an existing human being. At this time, there
is no clinical, scientific, therapeutic or moral justification for
it. Put simply, this a technology that is not ready for prime time,"
Soules' testimony states.
However, Sean Tipton, a spokesman for the ASRM, says the
professional society at the moment plans no action against Zavos.
"Dr. Zavos is currently a member and, as is
the case on many issues, our members are not unanimous in their
views on this," Tipton says. "We do have bylaws that allow us to
remove a member for gross violations of professional ethics, but we
are unlikely to take action against a member who expresses what he
sees as legitimate scientific views. If he were to move beyond that,
then we would have a different issue on our hands."
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