Secure Verified
| Title | : | Horizon |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | : | Documentary |
| Air Date | : | 2001-10-25 |
| Season Number | : | 38 |
| Episodes Number | : | 11 |
| Overview | : | Doctors Panayiotis Zavos and Severino Antinori claim they are ready to embark on the greatest human experiment of our age. They say they will attempt to clone a human being before the year is out. Most people think the objections to this are ethical - human cloning would create many moral dilemmas. There is another question that few ever ask: is the science actually ready yet for cloning healthy humans? Horizon follows the latest research, which has led many scientists to believe that Zavos and Antinori's plans to clone the first human could end in tragedy. The programme also meets couples like Matthew and Desiree Racquer who think cloning offers them the only way to raise a child who is truly their own. For decades, cloning remained within the realms of science fiction. The idea that instead of combining a sperm and an egg, a new human could be made from a single cell taken from an adult, seemed completely absurd. But that all changed in February 1997, when the Roslin Institute introduced the world to Dolly the sheep - the first animal cloned from an adult. Ever since Dolly, scientists have been continuing to experiment with cloning animals. So far, they have succeeded in cloning sheep, cattle, pigs, goats and mice, fuelling the belief that humans could be next. But even Dolly's creator, Professor Ian Wilmut, is concerned that beneath the veneer of success lies a disturbing reality. Most cloning attempts on animals so far have resulted in failed implantation or abnormal foetuses. Of the animals born alive, some soon die of catastrophic organ failure. Others appear to be healthy for weeks or even months, then die suddenly, sometimes from bizarre new illnesses which do not occur in nature. Years of painstaking work are only now revealing some vital clues to what is going wrong. Horizon talks to the scientists who have uncovered new evidence, suggesting that the process of cloning itself causes subtle errors in the way genes function. These random errors may be like a time bomb inside every clone, causing some of the strange - often fatal - problems. There's no reason to think cloned human babies would fare any better. According to embryologist Dr Susan Avery, death might be the best outcome for many human clones. If they survived, they would suffer from catastrophic illnesses that modern medicine is powerless to prevent or cure. Dr Zavos claims that these problems are the result of the still unsophisticated methods being used by animal researchers. Using advanced in vitro fertilisation ('test tube baby') techniques, he claims that he will strive to make human cloning safer than natural reproduction. Now though, it seems that some IVF procedures themselves are being investigated for possible harmful effects on the long term health of children. Professor Gerald Schatten of the University of Pittsburgh reveals evidence of these risks, which could be magnified in cloning. Most reproductive specialists believe that the danger to any human born by cloning is enormous. But the would-be human cloners are determined to clone a human baby. If they proceed, they may be courting tragedy. |
| Stars | : |
February 03, 1964
Season 1
9 Episodes
January 06, 1965
Season 2
24 Episodes
January 02, 1966
Season 3
23 Episodes
January 17, 1967
Season 4
23 Episodes
January 02, 1968
Season 5
24 Episodes
January 02, 1969
Season 6
37 Episodes
January 05, 1970
Season 7
37 Episodes
January 04, 1971
Season 8
32 Episodes
January 03, 1972
Season 9
33 Episodes
January 04, 1973
Season 10
32 Episodes
January 07, 1974
Season 11
33 Episodes
January 20, 1975
Season 12
26 Episodes
January 05, 1976
Season 13
30 Episodes
January 07, 1977
Season 14
23 Episodes
January 06, 1978
Season 15
24 Episodes
February 26, 1979
Season 16
25 Episodes
January 14, 1980
Season 17
25 Episodes
January 05, 1981
Season 18
27 Episodes
January 11, 1982
Season 19
22 Episodes
January 10, 1983
Season 20
24 Episodes
January 09, 1984
Season 21
22 Episodes
January 07, 1985
Season 22
16 Episodes
January 06, 1986
Season 23
22 Episodes
January 05, 1987
Season 24
22 Episodes
January 04, 1988
Season 25
25 Episodes
January 09, 1989
Season 26
20 Episodes
January 08, 1990
Season 27
20 Episodes
January 07, 1991
Season 28
23 Episodes
January 06, 1992
Season 29
19 Episodes
January 04, 1993
Season 30
21 Episodes
January 10, 1994
Season 31
21 Episodes
January 09, 1995
Season 32
20 Episodes
January 08, 1996
Season 33
16 Episodes
February 27, 1997
Season 34
15 Episodes
February 19, 1998
Season 35
18 Episodes
January 28, 1999
Season 36
14 Episodes
January 12, 2000
Season 37
19 Episodes
January 25, 2001
Season 38
11 Episodes
January 10, 2002
Season 39
18 Episodes
January 09, 2003
Season 40
19 Episodes
January 08, 2004
Season 41
18 Episodes
January 13, 2005
Season 42
20 Episodes
January 12, 2006
Season 43
19 Episodes
March 13, 2007
Season 44
9 Episodes
January 15, 2008
Season 45
17 Episodes
January 26, 2009
Season 46
11 Episodes
October 13, 2009
Season 47
14 Episodes
September 26, 2010
Season 48
15 Episodes
August 08, 2011
Season 49
13 Episodes
July 23, 2012
Season 50
16 Episodes
August 12, 2013
Season 51
11 Episodes
August 17, 2014
Season 52
18 Episodes
March 16, 2016
Season 53
16 Episodes
January 19, 2017
Season 54
15 Episodes
February 05, 2018
Season 55
13 Episodes
January 23, 2019
Season 56
6 Episodes
January 16, 2020
Season 57
8 Episodes
January 04, 2021
Season 58
4 Episodes
March 31, 2022
Season 59
4 Episodes
