ITALY: MAVERICK CLONING DOCTOR GOES ON HUNGER STRIKE ALLEGING PERSECUTION FROM ITALIAN AUTHORITIES.

Record ID: 342210

  • Title: ITALY: MAVERICK CLONING DOCTOR GOES ON HUNGER STRIKE ALLEGING PERSECUTION FROM ITALIAN AUTHORITIES.
  • Date: 22nd January 2003
  • Summary: (EU) ROME, ITALY (JANUARY 21, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV/CU: OUTSIDE THE SEAT OF THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT, FLAGS (2 SHOTS) 0.05 2. GV/MV/PAN: PROFESSOR SEVERINO ANTINORI WALKING AND SPEAKING TO A SECURITY OFFICER (2 SHOTS) 0.23 3. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) ANTINORI SAYING: "From now on I am not eating anything until Prime Minister (Silvio) Berlusconi meets me. I appeal to all researchers worldwide that a stop is put to this type of persecution. Research must be free. Human cloning is not evil like Saddam Hussein. Human cloning is a great scientific possibility for humanity that cannot be attacked. The terrible thing in Italy, is that I am being investigated because I simply think - I have never committed a crime here." 1.13 4. GV: VIEW OF SEAT OF GOVERNMENT BUILDING, MEDIA STANDING 1.16 5. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANTINORI: "I want to take into consideration one thing. In this atmosphere, there are a lot of problems personally for me. This strong persecution against me excludes my speaking about therapeutic or clinical cloning. For that I want to point out my position so maybe people will understand my situation. But, in the future, I will speak about the situation in a scientific setting." 1.59 6. MCU: VIEW OF MEDIA 2.00 7. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) ANTINORI: "It is just game of publicity regarding the (Raelian) sect. They want to increase membership in the sect. Boisselier has never published anything, she has never seen an embryo - only played with tap water. It is yet another farce to gain attention. I think this story will blow over, I don't want to even speak about it" 2.30 8. MV: MEDIA 2.33 9. CU/MV: ANTINORI HOLDING HIS BOOK WITH PHOTOGRAPHERS (3 SHOTS) 2.46 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 6th February 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ROME, ITALY
  • Country: Italy
  • Reuters ID: LVA21QH0ZYDZKW36ZSQN4V9MFG1Y
  • Story Text: Maverick Italian fertility doctor, Severino Antinori,
    has announced that he is going on a hunger strike to protest
    against what he calls persecution by Italian authorities.



    The Italian cloning guru, Severino Antinori, protested
    outside the seat of the Italian government on Tuesday (January
    21) and said he was going on a hunger strike after what he
    defines as persecution by Italian authorities.

    Antinori, who has said he was overseeing the pregnancies
    of several women expecting cloned babies, complained that
    police had asked to question him on his human cloning
    projects, which he said amounted to persecution.

    "This is an attack on science and on the freedom of
    scientific research," Antinori told reporters in front of the
    seat of the Italian government in Rome.

    "From now on I am not eating anything until Prime Minister
    (Silvio) Berlusconi meets me. I appeal to all researchers
    worldwide that a stop is put to this type of persecution.

    Research must be free," Antinori said to the press.

    "Human cloning is not evil like Saddam Hussein. Human
    cloning is a great scientific possibility for humanity that
    cannot be attacked. The terrible thing in Italy, is that I am
    being investigated because I simply think - I have never
    committed a crime here," Antinori said.

    Antinori refused to give any details on a woman whom he
    said in November was pregnant with a cloned embryo and was due
    to give birth in January, or on other pregnancies he had
    spoken earlier.

    "I want to take into consideration one thing. In this
    atmosphere, there are a lot of problems personally for me.

    This strong persecution against me excludes my speaking about
    therapeutic or clinical cloning. For that, I want to point out
    my position so maybe people will understand my situation. But,
    in the future, I will speak about the situation in a
    scientific setting," he said.

    Antinori has dismissed announcements by Clonaid of cloned
    babies as being rubbish. The company linked to the Raelian
    sect claims it has created the world's first two cloned
    babies, but Antinori says Clonaid had no scientific track
    record.

    On Tuesday, he also took issue with Clonaid's motivations
    for cloning, saying that chief Clonaid scientist Brigitte
    Boisselier was not even a real scientist.

    "It is just game of publicity regarding the (Raelian)
    sect. They want to increase membership in the sect. Boisselier
    has never published anything, she has never seen an embryo -
    only played with tap water. It is yet another farce to gain
    attention. I think this story will blow over, I don't want to
    even speak about it," Antinori said.

    Antinori gained fame in 1993 when he helped a 62-year-old
    woman give birth following fertility treatment with a donated
    egg, but he has revealed few details about his cloning
    projects.

    Never shy of courting controversy, Antinori caused alarm
    in the scientific community, outrage in religious circles and
    confusions for law makers when he announced more than a year
    ago his desire to clone humans to help infertile couples.

    Cloning experts have doubted that Antinori or his unknown
    colleagues have the expertise to clone a human. Although
    sheep, mice and pigs have been cloned, there is no proof that
    scientists have yet produced a carbon copy of any primate.


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