| House Passes Total Human Cloning Ban | |
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Dateline: 07/31/01
Struggling over the ethical issues of stem cell research, the House of Representatives today voted 265-162 in favor of a bill banning all forms of human cloning, including the cloning of human embryos for purposes of stem cell research.
The bill, H.R. 2505 - Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2001, sponsored by Florida Republican Rep. Dave Weldon, would make cloning a human being a federal crime punishable by fines up to $1 million and up to 10 years in prison.
"It shall be unlawful for any person or entity, public or private, in or affecting interstate commerce, knowingly -- to perform or attempt to perform human cloning; to participate in an attempt to perform human cloning; or to ship or receive for any purpose an embryo produced by human cloning or any product derived from such embryo." - From H.R. 2505, The Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2001
Prior to the final vote on the bill, the house defeated by a vote of 178-249, a substitute amendment offered by Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Jim Greenwood would that have banned cloning humans, but would have allowed limited cloning of human embryos and cells necessary to further embryonic stem cell research.
Speaking in support of his amendment, Rep. Greenwood urged lawmakers to weigh their ethical concerns against the possible medical advances offered by stem cell research. "[C]ures for diseases, ailments and illness may be lost should we entirely ban this technology," he stated.
Cosponsor of the Greenwood bill, Florida Democrat Peter Deutsch agreed that human cloning should be banned, but that some related practices should be allowed because of their importance to medical research. "This is not creating life. This is giving life," he said.
The Senate will not consider the bill until at least September after Congress returns from it Summer break.
Medical researchers argue that treatment and possible cures to ailments including spinal cord injuries, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, diabetes and stroke may result from stem cell research.
A White House policy statement released on Monday expressed President Bush's support for a total ban on human cloning. "The moral and ethical issues posed by human cloning are profound and cannot be ignored in the quest for scientific discovery."
President Bush is, however, still considering whether to allow spending of federal funds to further stem cell research using excess non-cloned human embryos produced through in-vitro fertilization that would otherwise be destroyed.
Monday's White House policy statement went on to state that the president would support "tissue-based therapies based on research involving the use of nuclear transfer or other cloning techniques to produce molecules, DNA, cells other than human embryos, tissues, organs, plants or animals other than humans."
The policy statement also acknowledged that stem cell research not involving embryonic human cloning had "enabled researchers to develop innovative drugs to treat research, such as breast cancer, or aid in treatment techniques for injury, such as cloning skins cells for skin grafts."
