Russian expert votes for cloning human organs

Gennady Onishchenko, chief of the federal monitoring service for the protection of consumer rights and well-being, has voted for legalizing the cloning of separate human organs.

"Let's not copy people but why not growing a kidney, just like a good spare part, and artificial blood too can be obtained," Onishchenko told RIA Novosti.

He made a note of the possibility of infecting the patient when conducting operations of organ transplantation or blood transfusion.

"Five years ago the World Health Organization took a strategic decision indicating that in the future physicians should give up the use of any biological liquids in transfusion and organs of tissues in transplantation because the risk of infecting the patient 'by negligence' is rather high," said the head of the federal service.

This effort can be largely promoted by biotechnological achievements, in particular, cloning for the production of separate organs, but not a human being. He cited liver stem cells which when planted on a morbid organ breed quite a healthy process.

"It is certainly a prospective solution as one day we are certain to abandon transplantation and blood transfusion. And present-day biotechnologies give us wide possibilities for this," said Onishchenko.