Cloning issue is overblown, expert says

By Wirasti Wiryono

JAKARTA (JP): The current frenzy over genetic scientists' claims that they will soon be able to produce humans from cloned embryos is mere hype, according to a professor of molecular biology at the University of Indonesia.

Sangkot Marzuki, also director of the Eijkman Institute, appeased concern over the moral and ethical threats posed by such sophisticated technology, and said that cloning was conducted for research purposes only. "It's not for creating carbon-copy human beings, which many governments of the industrialized world fear," he said.

"The cloning of dinosaurs as witnessed in the film Jurassic Park is an exaggerated myth," Sangkot said.

Sangkot was commenting on the reported claims of some scientists that it would not be long before humans could be produced from cloned embryos. The conclusion was made after genetic scientists in Oregon, USA, successfully produced two healthy monkeys through cloning.

Dr. Don Wolf, the scientist who led the research team, is also head of an in vitro fertilization laboratory. The technique of cloning embryos is said to be scientifically very close to in vitro fertilization.

In Washington the cloning sparked demands for the U.S. to join Britain and other countries in passing laws to ban human cloning. President Bill Clinton asked his medical and scientific advisory committee last week to report back within six months on the state of cloning and genetic research, and recommend whether new laws were needed.

In Indonesia, Minister of Health Sujudi has dismissed the frenzy.

"From a scientific perspective, anything is possible ... (However) to produce (a genetic twin of a human being) may not yet be possible. Much less to produce a human adult," he told Jawa Pos. "Besides, it's very unethical and unacceptable from a religious point of view."

Cloning refers to transferring the nucleus, which contains the DNA, of one cell into an egg without sexual contact, thus creating a genetic twin.

At the Eijkman Institute, DNA cloning is used for research rather than commercial purposes, Sangkot said.

"Scientific practices are often ahead of ethical, commercial and legal channels, and they spark fears of the unknown among those less familiar with biotechnology, like governments and the public," he said, adding that it was the daring practices, not the scientific development, that had gained more ground.

"The public is unaware that self-control mechanisms exist in the scientific community to curb the undesirable from happening," he said. "Here scientists must apply for funding from the government or a university to bring their proposal to life."

There are also bodies at those institutions to monitor such activities, he said.

Sangkot, aged 52, said that scientists had developed ways to manipulate genes from becoming uncontrollable and, instead, just enhance them, a practice called transgenics. The procedure already involves plants like tomatoes, peanuts and flowers.

"Animals and humans are unlikely to be made under these methods," he said. Cloning, he argued, "is not for the creation of designer babies."

Nevertheless, he admitted that applications of science and technology are not removed from ethical, business and legal interests, as in the case of surrogate mothers who bear children and relinquish them upon birth.

Sangkot, also a professor of medicine at Australia's Monash University and adjunct professor of cellular and molecular biology at the University of Queensland, returned to Indonesia in 1992 at State Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie's bidding to help develop a tradition of science and technology here.

Sangkot began his efforts at the Eijkman Institute, which was established in 1888 by the Dutch scientist Christiaan Eijkman, the person who discovered the correlation between vitamin B deficiency and beriberi. He won a Nobel Prize in 1929 for the finding.

The 109-year-old institute, later named after Eijkman, was shut down in 1965 from inactivity. Habibie reestablished it in 1992 but changed its function to molecular biology research.

Sangkot said the country's science and technology roots are still young and that its practitioners were initially a very small community, particularly during the struggle for independence in the 1940's.

He expressed his wish to lay a scientific foundation that would develop into a national biotechnology base to compete globally. Through this platform he would like to teach science and technology not only to his colleagues but also to the Indonesian public.

At the core of Sangkot's activities is basic research with strategic applications, which should help develop human resources in the scientific community. There are currently 50 molecular biologists at the institute.

Looking at the premises, it is evident that funding and technical facilities at the institute are on a par with the world's best research centers.

Science and technology research came to a screeching halt during the struggle for independence as Indonesians rejected Dutch colonial ideas and practices.

Sangkot is at a loss to address the shortage of qualified human resources, a situation he admits is difficult to resolve, especially among Indonesian youths who find science boring and difficult to relate to.

"Funding and technical facilities are useless without creative, skilled staff," he said, referring to a report he has already submitted to several ministries.

He is also saddened by an August 1995 report by Scientific American on Indonesia's position in the scientific world. The monthly magazine puts the country on a par with Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh and well below Singapore, Thailand and Zaire.

The report said the country's share of journal articles was 0.012 percent out of 100 countries as compared to 0.179 percent for Singapore.

The institute runs a postgraduate diploma program in molecular biology for Indonesian university graduates with the University of Queensland. Sixty percent of the curriculum is devoted to studies and practical experience while the remaining 40 percent is spent doing research.

Sangkot said it was important for Indonesia to compete not only globally but also with neighboring countries such Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Vietnam and China, which consider biotechnology as the key to the future.