Reason.com
Who Am I?
Severino Antinori
I'm Italian fertility specialist Severino Antinori and I play a mad scientist on TV. My latest bombshell, delivered with a pitch-perfect, central-casting villain accent? That the world's first cloned human baby will be born in January. (Hey, Panos Zavos, the Bela Lugosi to my Boris Karloff, look upon my recent press clippings and despair!) There's a strong case to be made that folks like me accomplish little more than fueling the Huxleyian anxieties of anti-cloning activists who want to stop all forms of cloning, including the therapeutic variety. Ah well, they don't call us mad scientists for nothin'.
Here's the genetic rub: I may have been beaten out by the Raelians, a Canadian free-love sect that runs UFOland, a Quebec theme park. The chief scientist of Clonaid, the biotech company the Raelians started five years ago, has said that the clone will be delivered via C-section, maybe even on Christmas Day.
Sure, their story—like mine—reeks of fakery. But if the Raelians can build the world's largest structure made of hay bales, cloning a human must seem like child's play.
Most Popular Stories
- 5 Classic Teen Sex-and-Drug Freakouts: Rainbow Parties, Butt-Chugging, And So Much More (By Which We Mean Less) (5.27)
- Government Beneficiaries and Other Fairy Tales (5.26)
- Do Organic Consumers Shop Exclusively at the Jerk Store? (5.26)
- Sharon Presley on Libertarian Feminism (5.26)
- Here Are the 15 Senators Who Voted to Stop Armed FDA Agents From Conducting Warrantless Raids on America's Farmers (Not One of Them is a Democrat) (5.24)
Reason RUPE: Public Opinion Survey
- Reason-Rupe: Wisconsinites Favor Increasing Public Union Retirement Contributions to Address Budget Deficit (5.25)
- Reason-Rupe Poll Finds Support for Public Union Reforms (5.25)
- New Poll: Obama Leads Romney In Wisconsin, But Gary Johnson Could Impact the Race (5.24)
- Wisconsin Recall: Walker Leads Barrett 50-42 Among Likely Voters (5.24)
- Reason-Rupe Poll: Walker Leads Barrett 50-42, Obama Leads Romney 46-36 (5.24)
advertisements
Get Reason E-mail Updates!
Manage your Reason e-mail list subscriptionsSite comments/questions:
Media Inquiries and Reprint Permissions:
(310) 367-6109
Editorial & Production Offices:
3415 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Suite 400
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 391-2245
Editor's Note: We invite comments and request that they be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of Reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment or disable your ability to comment for any reason at any time.