Hearing on cloning after claims Clonaid impregnated woman

Описание: (7 Jan 2003)

Seoul - 07 January 2003
1. Wide shot of inside of public hearing room at the national assembly
2. Mid shot screen
3. Close up of chairman of committee call public hearing to order
4. Pull back from audience to committee room
5. Close up observer
6. Mid shot scientific illustration
7. SOUNDBITE: (Korean) Kim Sang-hee, Korean women's society:
"We don't have any laws to ban surrogate mothers and cloning. We have the best conditions of any country in which to create cloned individuals. I believe that Clonaid is looking at South Korea as a nation where it is easy to carry out human cloning."
8. Mid shot clerk transcribing
9. Various public hearing room
10. SOUNDBITE: (Korean) Professor Moon Shin-yong, Seoul National University:
"It is wrong if we transplant an embryo and that results in a cloned human birth. But the position of the scientific community is that we should carry out research on these embryos for possible future medical use."
11. Cutaway audience
12. Various scientific graphics
13. Mid shot people watching screen
14. Various baby and test tubes on screen

File - Daegu - July 23 2002
15. Wide shot Clonaid news briefing
16. Pan over banner
17. Mid shot graphic
18. Mid shot graphic reading "Eternal Life Can be Reached through Cloning Technology"

STORYLINE:

The South Korean National Assembly held a public hearing in Seoul on Tuesday to discuss the country's legislation on cloning.

The hearing comes after Clonaid officials claimed that they had impregnated a South Korean woman with a cloned human embryo and moved her out of the country in July.

The country's prosecutors are trying to verify the claims and recently seized documents from a South Korea biotech company that reportedly helped Clonaid with the impregnation, the national Yonhap news agency said.

An investigation into cloning was launched in July after the sect's local office made the claims

On Tuesday, the National Assembly committee heard from South Korean social groups, medical officials and scientists at the one day hearing following public concern over the possibility of human cloning taking place in South Korea.

Kim Sang-hee from the South Korean women's society said she believed the lack of legislation in the Asian country made it a prime location for companies like Clonaid.

South Korea has no law banning human cloning yet, but has been speeding up efforts to change legislation since the investigations began in July.

The Science and Technology Ministry has drafted a bill that calls for a prison term of up to 10 years for those attempting to clone human beings.

Professor Moon Shin-yong from Seoul National University said that while it was unethical to clone human babies, it was important not to lose sight of important medical gains that could be made by related research.

Research on embryonic stem cells could revolutionise the treatment of diseases such as cancer and Parkinson's disease. But the research is controversial because embryos must be destroyed to recover the stem cells.

Clonaid announced on December 27 that an American woman had given birth to the first cloned baby. Last week they said that a second cloned child had been born.

There has been no independent confirmation of the group's cloning claims and many experts are remaining sceptical, believing the allegations are part of a publicity stunt for the religious sect that founded the company.

Clonaid was founded in 1997 by the Raelian Movement, a religious sect that believes life on earth was created by clones of extraterrestrials.

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...