egarrard
09-27-2003, 12:30 AM
Hubby Clones Wife (http://entertainment.tv.yahoo.com/entnews/wwn/20030925/106450200000.html)
BIOLOGIST Dmitri Ivanov secretly cloned his cancer-riddled wife Katrina in 1965, in an experiment that seemed to end happily when he married the dead woman's genetic duplicate just days after she turned 18.
But the brilliant scientist's love for his look-alike bride soon grew cold.
In 1985, Ivanov dumped her and made yet another clone of her dead sister. Then he waited patiently until the second clone turned 18 last March before marrying her.
"These are the kinds of horror stories that turn the public against any kind of cloning, even the cloning of stem cells that could cure diseases like Alzheimer's disease and diabetes," says Dr. Robert Follet, founder of the London-based cloning advocacy group, Scientists for Ethics in Duplication.
"Raising a clone as a child and then marrying her is bad enough. But to involve a second, genetically related clone in a tawdry love triangle is unconscionable.
"It could take years to overcome the bad publicity.
"And lest we forget, we're dealing with powerful emotions and real lives here.
"Clones derived from human genetic material aren't somehow less than human. They are people, too."
Details of Ivanov's experiments are sketchy, but sources in Moscow say the scientist ran Russia's cloning laboratory until the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
Records suggest that the expert authorized and participated in the cloning of at least 300 humans.
In unauthorized experiments, Ivanov "personally created and raised at least three and possibly four clones," add the insiders, noting that it isn't clear what happened to the others.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has intervened in the bizarre case, ordering Ivanov and his new clone, 18-year-old Galina Kolokov, to remain in his apartment under protective custody.
Ivanov's first clone bride, Elina Kolokov, is believed to be housed in a government psychiatric facility "recovering from the shock."
Here are some facts as they are currently known:
* Ivanov is 69. Elina is 38, and sources say she is plain and chubby -- unlike perky, pretty Galina.
* Elina was cloned from genetic material extracted from a single hair provided by Ivanov's first wife, Katrina, as she lay dying from cancer in 1965.
* Galina was cloned from a piece of the dead woman's ear cartilage.
In the United States, feminists, clergymen and scientists worry that Ivanov's abuse of cloning technology may be the beginning of a horrifying trend.
"Cloning humans is illegal in the U.S., but there's nothing to stop American men from having their wives and girlfriends cloned in another country," says one feminist.
"The cloning of women for the purpose of companionship cheapens us all," she adds.
Lawyers are weighing in, too.
"It's clear that to stop this kind of thing from happening, we'll need new laws that will allow us to legislate what you can and can't do with a clone," one attorney says.
BIOLOGIST Dmitri Ivanov secretly cloned his cancer-riddled wife Katrina in 1965, in an experiment that seemed to end happily when he married the dead woman's genetic duplicate just days after she turned 18.
But the brilliant scientist's love for his look-alike bride soon grew cold.
In 1985, Ivanov dumped her and made yet another clone of her dead sister. Then he waited patiently until the second clone turned 18 last March before marrying her.
"These are the kinds of horror stories that turn the public against any kind of cloning, even the cloning of stem cells that could cure diseases like Alzheimer's disease and diabetes," says Dr. Robert Follet, founder of the London-based cloning advocacy group, Scientists for Ethics in Duplication.
"Raising a clone as a child and then marrying her is bad enough. But to involve a second, genetically related clone in a tawdry love triangle is unconscionable.
"It could take years to overcome the bad publicity.
"And lest we forget, we're dealing with powerful emotions and real lives here.
"Clones derived from human genetic material aren't somehow less than human. They are people, too."
Details of Ivanov's experiments are sketchy, but sources in Moscow say the scientist ran Russia's cloning laboratory until the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
Records suggest that the expert authorized and participated in the cloning of at least 300 humans.
In unauthorized experiments, Ivanov "personally created and raised at least three and possibly four clones," add the insiders, noting that it isn't clear what happened to the others.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has intervened in the bizarre case, ordering Ivanov and his new clone, 18-year-old Galina Kolokov, to remain in his apartment under protective custody.
Ivanov's first clone bride, Elina Kolokov, is believed to be housed in a government psychiatric facility "recovering from the shock."
Here are some facts as they are currently known:
* Ivanov is 69. Elina is 38, and sources say she is plain and chubby -- unlike perky, pretty Galina.
* Elina was cloned from genetic material extracted from a single hair provided by Ivanov's first wife, Katrina, as she lay dying from cancer in 1965.
* Galina was cloned from a piece of the dead woman's ear cartilage.
In the United States, feminists, clergymen and scientists worry that Ivanov's abuse of cloning technology may be the beginning of a horrifying trend.
"Cloning humans is illegal in the U.S., but there's nothing to stop American men from having their wives and girlfriends cloned in another country," says one feminist.
"The cloning of women for the purpose of companionship cheapens us all," she adds.
Lawyers are weighing in, too.
"It's clear that to stop this kind of thing from happening, we'll need new laws that will allow us to legislate what you can and can't do with a clone," one attorney says.