MidEast is 'potential haven for cloning' - scientist

The Middle East is a potential haven for cloning technology, according to a researcher in the subject.

Human cloning scientist Dr Panayiotis Zavos claims that the Middle East’s attitude towards human cloning is more progressive than that of the West.

Speaking to Arabian Insight, “The Middle East is turning more towards cloning than objections,” he said. “I visited with many people in the Middle East, including Hassan Nasrallah, the spiritual leader of Hezbollah in Beirut, Lebanon. I also visited with Moshe Katsav, the former president of Israel for an hour and a half. So I do get opinions of people. The Pope didn’t invite me yet, but I don’t think he wants to talk to me.

“Believe it or not, most of my patients are Catholics and they believe in artificial means of reproduction. When you have to have a child obviously you put all those ethical questions and religious questions on the side, and say ‘to hell with the Pope’.”

Zavos describes how the Middle East with its more “homogenous” population is a propitious location for his research, as there are fewer disparate cultural groups to criticise his work, unlike America where he says “you can offend the Hindus, the Muslims, the Southern Baptists or the Catholics.”

“The Middle East seems to be very progressive, he says. “You are dealing there with a very homogenous people and they all believe in the same God, they all eat the same food, they don’t disagree on too many things and they seem to be okay financially today.

“And all those things are obviously very optimistic things, very optimistic things when you consider introducing a controversial, all new technology, because they simply either agree with you or disagree with you, but they are not going to use a .38 to come after you and shoot you.”

He adds that from a religious perspective there also seem to be few objections to his controversial technology in the region: “Based upon the fact that I spoke to many religious leaders in the Middle East, they all seem to be in agreement and in favour of cloning rather than objecting to it.”

This attitude, explains Zavos, is a refreshing change from some of the feedback he has faced in the West, but he emphasises that if certain countries do not wish to be involved in human cloning, he has no intention of forcing it upon them.

“If the British don’t like it, it is not for the British,” he says. “And if George W. Bush doesn’t like it is not for George W. Bush either. Of course George W. Bush would like to clone himself, but then who wants to clone George W. Bush? I mean one disaster is enough.”

The scientist defended his controversial research: click here to read his full interview

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