Dr Panos Zavos became a household name in the US earlier this year after sensationally stating that he was two years away from cloning a human being for the first time.

The claim has sparked huge controversy throughout the world prompting a re-examination of legislation by the US congress and the tabling of the Prohibition of Human Cloning bill.

Dr Zavos has had a long career as a Reproductive Specialist and is the Chief Scientist in the development of several new and innovative technologies in the animal and human reproductive areas with worldwide implications.
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The Greek-Cypriot professor is part of an international consortium working on human cloning and is a passionate advocate of its potential to help childless couples produce a baby.

Q. How far away are we from human cloning?

The progress of our project is well underway and we are making progress everyday. We are planning to have the first viable and healthy embryos for transfer and establish a healthy pregnancy within the next two years. A human can be cloned and can be cloned safely. Please do not forget that the efforts of our International Consortium is to apply the human therapeutic cloning technology for reproductive purposes only and to those have exhausted every possible avenue for reproducing their own biological child.

Q. How great a part of your work is ethics or is the pursuit of greater scientific knowledge divorced from ethics?

One must understand that there are ethics involved in almost every human activity and a much greater part in what we are attempting to do. However, one also must understand that ethical rules may vary in almost every situation and that what it may be ethically correct for someone may not be for someone else. That variability is even exaggerated in the USA because of the multitude of cultures, religions and ideologies that exist here in the US. This activity, the cloning effort, is a medical procedure which when it becomes safe and applicable it should remain as a decision between the medical doctor and the patient.

Q. Your work is frequently referred to as 'playing God', how do you respond to this common accusation?

One must understand that we at the Consortium that are involved in this effort are as human as any one else. This type of questioning arose from the fact that for years the cloning picture was depicted as being awesome, coming from God and that only God can create a human being. This is in line of what we believe and if creating a life via the use of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) in a petri dish has nothing to do with playing God, there is almost no difference, between IVF and cloning, other than the fact that the source of the genetic material is slightly different.

Is the moral and ethical backlash against cloning simply typical public reaction to the latest medical advance?

I believe that the British Medical Association statement says it best that Public hostility to human reproductive cloning may be based on an illogical transient fear of a new technology -

Is the public's fear of cloning due in part to general technophobia, spurred by science fiction presentations of a 'Brave New World' variety?

Yes, definitely, there is a general technophobia in the world today. Until today the public has been bombarded by this type of stories and fictional materials which can only be portrait as fictional movies or books. Unfortunately, those are the types of situations that we must overcome and try to convince the public that cloning can be made to be safe and applicable to the World. It can make this an even better world. We at the Consortium, spend a great deal of time and effort to debate and enlighten the public about those facts and situations. Unfortunately, there are other elements out there that use "scare tactics" to frighten, misguide and confuse the public from understanding the science and all other facts about cloning and its applicability in this Great New World

Is human cloning the ultimate answer to infertility problems?

Not necessarily. It can assist couples that have tried every other avenue to reproduce and they have been unable to do. We expect that only 5% of the infertile population in the world may qualify for use of the cloning technology for reproductive purposes. The process of natural or assisted sexual reproduction will still be the best and most efficient mode of reproduction for humans.

Where does the progress in cloning techniques leave the current IVF and equivalent treatment programmes?

Since the cloning technology will only be available to those that have exhausted all other options for reproduction, including IVF, then we do not expect to see any effect or other impact on the current IVF or other equivalent assisted reproductive programs. The reproductive cloning technology could even make those treatment programs more efficient.