China claims to possess human cloning technology

The president of the world's largest cloning company in China said it was holding human cloning technology but delayed the cloning because of fear of public opinion.

China holds human duplication technology

According to AFP, Xu Xiaochun, 44, Boyalife Group's chief executive, said the world's largest animal cloning plant in Tianjin, China is studying cloning primates, and developing nuclear technology. The monkey-to-human version "is just a short step in biology".

"We have this technology in hand," Xu said. "If allowed, I think no company other than Boyalife may have better technology."

The group has invested more than $ 30 million to build a factory in Tianjin, which is expected to start operations next year. The factory is ambitious to produce one million cows per year, as well as clone many other animals such as race horses, professional dogs, and even humans.

China claims to possess human cloning technology.(Artwork: Corbis).

Although the company has not yet carried out human cloning, Xu stressed, to avoid adverse reactions from public opinion, he implied "social values ​​can change" when referring to people's conceptions of homosexual. In addition, Xu added, over time people may have more choices in reproduction.

"Currently, the only way to have children is to carry the genes of both mother and father , " Xu said. "Maybe in the future, people will have three choices instead of one."

Xu studied in Canada and the United States and worked for the giant pharmaceutical company Pfizer. Xu said the Tianjin factory also helped clone genes to conserve biodiversity because gene banks store up to 5 million frozen cell samples in liquid nitrogen.

Boyalife's partner is South Korea's Soam biotech company whose chief executive, Hwang Woo-suk, is dubbed the "human king" . The company received dog replication at a cost of $ 1,000 once.

Earlier this year, the Korean newspaper Dong-A Ilbo quoted Hwang as saying he intended to enter into a joint venture with China because " Korea's bioethics laws prohibit human eggs".

"We decided to set up the base in China because we have entered the phase of applying technology to the human body , " Hwang said.

Safe cloning meat or harm to consumers remains a controversial issue. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDI) ranks meat and cloned animal milk into a safe category, and allows production to be widely available since 2008. However, the European Union parliamentary support the ban on human cloning and food use.

Cloned babies can carry the genes of both parents, or just one of them, according to Boyalife's director.(Artwork: Corbis).

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has not yet considered this issue. In addition, the Chinese expert himself objected to Boyalife's statement.

Han Lanzhi, GMO expert at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said Boyalife's statement about its safety, scope and route of operation is alarming and nonsense.

"There must be strict rules on this issue, because when a company pursues its interests, they will easily do other things in the future , " Han said.