Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 26, 1993 TAG: 9310260056
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short
Suddenly it seems the whole world wants to talk to him, challenge him, scold him. The Vatican labeled his experiment "perverse."
His research echoes eerily of science fiction - raising chilling questions about the future: Could designer embryos be sold to parents? Could humans be copied?
Hall says such things may never be possible and certainly can't be done now. At a news conference Monday, he seemed puzzled that his experiments on short-lived embryos raised such specters. "We did not implant these into any women; we did not intend to implant them," he said.
Hall and Dr. Robert Stillman, the director of the university's in vitro fertilization program, seemed reluctant targets of the endless questions. They emphasized scientific details and insisted the ethical questions should be left to others. They also jealously guarded their privacy. Asked his age, Stillman snapped, "That's not relevant."
By cloning human life, Hall crossed a line. Some ethicists fear that other scientists now will charge across that line into chilling experiments in creating human life.
But Hall said, "Twinning and triplets do occur naturally and this is all we were doing. So I'm not sure how a difference can be construed between what occurs naturally and what we were doing."
by CNB