Ten years ago, Bernard Siegel was just another South Florida lawyer handling child custody cases.
Then he filed a petition in Broward County Circuit Court to appoint a temporary guardian for "Baby Eve," a landmark 2002 case that exposed the claims of "human cloning" to be a sham. Siegel walked away believing such claims were overshadowing important work.
"I realized the damage to science that was taking place," he said..
Today, the 63-year-old is one of the world's leading champions for stem-cell research and the man behind the World Stem Cell Summit this week in West Palm Beach.
Scientists as from as far away as Japan, some from Nobel Prize-winning institutes, will be meeting through Wednesday at the Palm Beach Convention Center, the first time the summit is being held in Florida.
"Stem cell research has enormous societal benefit to alleviate human suffering," said Siegel, pointing to the research leading to drug discovery and potential cures.
Russell Allen, executive director of BioFlorida, the statewide industry group, said he is aware of Siegel's unusual beginnings in the industry, but "he has an international reputation as a bioscience advocate, not just in the stem cell world."
Siegel's unexpected journey from the courtroom to stem-cell research advocate began after he watched a televised news conference held at a Hollywood hotel in 2002.
Dr. Brigitte Boisselier, scientific director of the self-proclaimed human cloning company, Clonaid, went before a microphone to announce, "the first baby clone is born." Siegel said Clonaid is an offshoot of the Raelian religious sect who believed humankind was created by extraterrestrials through cloning.
Clonaid witnesses called to testify in the case never produced Eve, supposedly the clone of a 31-year-old American woman.
The rest is here:
Stem cell conference grew from bizarre case