[bpsdb] The Independent has a rather interesting exclusive today, leading with claims - that the paper believes are backed up - that the controversial fertility doctor Panayiotis Zavos has implanted eleven cloned human embryos (of 14 created) into host wombs. Apparently this took place in a "secret laboratory" in the Middle East. The Indie are reporting this as fact, claiming that: "The cloning was recorded by an independent documentary film-maker who has testified to The Independent that the cloning had taken place and that the women were genuinely hoping to become pregnant."

You'll notice that this post doesn't have the research-blogging icon in it, because of course there is no published research, data or evidence of any kind - peer-reviewed or otherwise. All we have is the word of this doctor, and some anonymous film-maker, both of whom rather obviously stand to benefit from the publicity generated. Quite why the Indie feel that the word of a documentary maker constitutes scientific evidence I don't know. Oh no wait I do, it's because they're more interested in getting the exclusive story than in pesky little things like fact-checking.

Steve Connor, the Indie Science Editor (apparently some papers still have those), notes in a curiously dismissive way that: "His claims are certain to be denounced by mainstream fertility scientists who in 2004 tried to gag Dr Zavos by imploring the British media not to give him the oxygen of publicity without him providing evidence to back up his statements." It's worth pointing out that tn the entire article, this is the only attempt at balance that Connor makes. Not one expert is quoted, besides Zavos himself.

And it's worth remembering why scientists are skeptical. Panayiotis Zavos has been making various claims about cloning for nearly a decade but has never produced evidence to back them up. He was fired by the Central Baptist Hospital in Kentucky in 1994 for engaging in "unethical and illegal behavior," that including misusing hospital property in order to run his own fertility business. The troubledidn't end there: "In fact, the dismissal touched off a long and improbable chain of events that led to a rebuke from a judge for misusing the legal system and a citation from the University of Kentucky, where he was a professor of animal sciences, for violating federal rules designed to protect people in medical research. A jury ordered him to pay a former employee nearly $500,000 in a lawsuit. His own lawyer was subsequently disbarred, in part because of an effort to hide Zavos' assets from the ex-employee."

In short this is a guy with a reputation for ignoring ethical principles in order to make a fast buck, loves publicity, and has a history of making extravagant claims that have never been backed up by scientific evidence. He is not a reliable source, but if his claims are true then they are very disturbing in light of his previous breaches of ethics. After all, all eleven of these pregnancies failed. If the story is true, then eleven mothers have lost their children in this latest experiment, on human beings, in a secret lab without an ethics committee or regulator in sight.

The Independent have a short FAQ section at the end of the article, and the last two questions are worth repeating, because in my opinion they expose what this story is all about.

Q. Why is this such a controversial thing to do?

A. Studies on animal cloning have shown time and time again that it is unsafe. The cloned animals suffer a higher-than-normal risk of severe developmental problems and the pregnancies often end in miscarriage. Mainstream scientists believe cloning is too dangerous to be used on humans.

Q. How likely is it that he will succeed?

A. He is determined to succeed and has a long line of people eager to sign up to his cloning programme, at a cost of between $45,000 and $75,000.

Human cloning. It's dangerous, it probably won't work, and you might get severely deformed or disabled babies, but boy US$75,000 is a lot of money. And as long as you've got a science editor willing to repeat your claims verbatim with barely the faintest hint of scrutiny, you don't even have to pay for the marketing.