Brownback:
sees no need for the technique.
Bills threaten total US ban on human cloning
|
Nature 411, 3 (2001) © Macmillan Publishers Ltd. |
03 May 2001
Date accessed: 21 June 2001
MEREDITH WADMAN
[WASHINGTON]
Republicans in the US
Congress have proposed two far-reaching bills that would outlaw the cloning of
human cells, regardless of whether they were to be used in research or
reproduction.
|
|
|
Brownback:
sees no need for the technique. |
Senator Sam
Brownback (Republican, Kansas) and Representative Dave Weldon (Republican,
Florida) introduced the Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2001 on 26 April. It
bans both publicly and privately funded human cloning based on somatic-cell
nuclear transfer, the technique used to produce Dolly the sheep. It also bans
importation of any "product of human cloning for any purpose".
Those breaking
the law would face a fine of at least $1 million, a prison sentence of up to 10
years, or both. Another bill, introduced on the same day by Vernon Ehlers
(Republican, Michigan), one of a handful of scientists in the Congress, also
criminalizes human cloning for any purpose.
Scientists
hope that cloned embryos might serve as a source of stem cells for treating a
range of diseases, including diabetes and Parkinson's. But harvesting the cells
means destroying the embryo, which has generated objections from opponents of
abortion.
In theory, the
embryos could also be used to generate a cloned human being. Already a team of
infertility doctors and a cult called the Raelians have announced that they will
attempt to produce cloned human beings in the near future (see Nature
410, 617; 2001).
"There is
no need for this technology to ever be used with humans — whether for
reproductive purposes or for destructive research purposes," Brownback said
in introducing his bill.
Anti-abortion
groups have embraced the bill. But scientists are responding with concern. It
"unnecessarily limits important medical research", says Elizabeth
Marincola, the executive director of the American Society for Cell Biology.
"Such a sweeping bill is not necessary" to protect against cloning a
human being, she says.
The extent to which cloning should be outlawed is dividing Republicans in the Congress. Moderate Republicans are expected to back a more narrowly written bill that would preserve the cloning of embryos for research.
Category: 33. Cloning