Richard Griffith Seed (May 22, 1928 – November 17, 2013) was an American physicist and businessman best known for forcing a national debate on
human cloning
Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy (or clone) of a human. The term is generally used to refer to artificial human cloning, which is the reproduction of human cells and tissue. It does not refer to the natural concepti ...
in the late 1990s.
[Bonnicksen, Andrea L. 2002. Crafting a Cloning Policy: From Dolly to Stem Cells. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.]
Life and career
Seed was born in
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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on May 22, 1928. He graduated from
Oak Park and River Forest High School
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in Illinois before attending
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, earning his undergraduate degree there in 1949.
[Staff report (September 14, 1998)]
Seed Proposes Cloning Himself
''Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Harvard College. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2013, there were 42 Division I intercollegiate varsity sports teams for women and men at Harvard, more than at ...
'' He later received a master's degree, as well as a Ph.D. in physics from Harvard in 1953. His interests soon shifted to the new frontier of
biomedicine
Biomedicine (also referred to as Western medicine, mainstream medicine or conventional medicine) . In the 1970s Seed co-founded a company that commercialized a technique for transferring embryos in cattle. Later, he and his brother, Chicago surgeon Randolph Seed, started another company, Fertility & Genetics Research Inc., to help infertile women conceive children using the same technique.
[Evans, Debra (2000). ''Without Moral Limits: Women, Reproduction, and Medical Technology.'' Crossway, ] These efforts to transplant a
human embryo
Human embryonic development, or human embryogenesis, is the development and formation of the human embryo. It is characterised by the processes of cell division and cellular differentiation of the embryo that occurs during the early stages of de ...
from one woman to an infertile
surrogate mother
Surrogacy is an arrangement, often supported by a legal agreement, whereby a woman agrees to delivery/labour for another person or people, who will become the child's parent(s) after birth. People may seek a surrogacy arrangement when pregnan ...
were published in 1984. The cumbersome procedure involved flushing embryos out of the
uterus
The uterus (from Latin ''uterus'', plural ''uteri'') or womb () is the organ in the reproductive system of most female mammals, including humans that accommodates the embryonic and fetal development of one or more embryos until birth. The uter ...
of the egg donor—and was soon eclipsed by
in-vitro fertilization
In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating an individual's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) ...
. Ultimately the venture failed.
On December 5, 1997, Seed announced that he planned to clone a human being before any federal laws could be enacted to ban the process.
Seed's announcement added fuel to the raging ethical debate on human cloning that had been sparked by
Ian Wilmut
Sir Ian Wilmut, OBE FRS -- FMedSci FRSE (born 7 July 1944) is an English embryologist and Chair of the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh. He is best known as the leader of the research group that in 19 ...
's creation of
Dolly the sheep
Dolly (5 July 1996 – 14 February 2003) was a female Finnish Dorset sheep and the first mammal cloned from an adult somatic cell. She was cloned by associates of the Roslin Institute in Scotland, using the process of nuclear transfer from a ...
, the first clone obtained from adult cells.
Seed's plans were to use the same technique used by the Scottish team.
Seed's announcement went against President Clinton's 1997 proposal for a voluntary private moratorium against human cloning. In the media frenzy that followed, the story of a 69-year-old eccentric, and maverick scientist emerged, but Seed possessed impressive credentials and was not dismissed immediately.
While virtually no mainstream scientist believed Seed would succeed, there began a subtle shift in attitudes after Seed made his announcement.
[Merrill, Richard A.; Rose, Bryan J. FDA Regulation of Human Cloning: Usurpation or Statesmanship; 15 Harv. J. L. Tech 85: (2001-2002)]
Retired at the time of his announcement to clone the first human, Seed was reported to have dabbled in ill-fated ventures in the past. He claimed at one time to have commitments for $800,000 toward a goal of $2.5 million needed to clone the first human before 2000. Seed first said that he was going to make little baby clones for infertile couples. Later, "to defuse criticism that I'm taking advantage of desperate women," he announced that he would first clone himself. Still later he announced that he would re-create his wife Gloria. "God made man in his own image," he told National Public Radio correspondent
Joe Palca
Joe Palca is an American correspondent for National Public Radio. He specializes in science, and is the backup host for Talk of the Nation Science Friday. Palca was also the president of the National Association of Science Writers from 1999 to ...
in December 1997. "God intended for man to become one with God. Cloning, is the first serious step in becoming one with God." In a later interview on CNN, Seed elaborated: "Man," he said, "will develop the technology and the science and the capability to have an indefinite life span."
Seed was awarded the 1998
Ig Nobel Prize
The Ig Nobel Prize ( ) is a satiric prize awarded annually since 1991 to celebrate ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. Its aim is to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." The name of ...
in economics, and a performance titled ''The Seedy Opera'' debuted at the event.
[Wickramasekara, Sagara (October 5, 1999)]
Not-so-noble Prizes Amuse and Bemuse Audiences.
'' The Tech''
Richard Seed died in
Hobart, Indiana
Hobart is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 29,890 at the 2020 census, up from 29,059 in 2010. It has been historically primarily residential, though recent annexation has added a notable retail corridor to the city ...
on November 17, 2013, at the age of 85.
Selected publications
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References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seed, Richard
1928 births
2013 deaths
Scientists from Chicago
Human subject research in the United States
Cloning
Harvard University alumni
Ig Nobel laureates