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WIRED NEWS Clone Ban a Life-Saving Ban, Too? By Kristen Philipkoski 2:00 a.m. June 22, 2001 PDT Two proposed congressional bills that would ban human cloning have researchers concerned that such legislation would hamper the development of treatments for heart failure, diabetes, Parkinson's disease and other illnesses. Thomas Okarma, CEO of Geron (GERN), a biotech company in Menlo Park, California, told a congressional panel that to ban all human cloning would not just outlaw the creation of carbon-copy humans. It would also eliminate "therapeutic cloning," which does not result in a new human but clones human embryos for research purposes. But Claude Allen, deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, told the panel that President Bush is opposed to any type of human cloning, because the administration fears that any application of the technology could open the floodgates to cloning of actual people. The bills discussed were HR 1644 and HR 2172. Both would establish criminal penalties for any type of human cloning. Geron scientists have used embryonic stem cells to derive heart cells that beat spontaneously in a dish and respond to heart drugs. They've also made brain and liver cells. The researchers hope that one day the cells can be injected directly into organs to fix, for example, a damaged blood vessel or liver. But the procedure entails cloning the embryonic stem cells, which some groups believe is too close to human cloning for comfort. Clones are created when the genetic material from a single cell is injected into an egg cell that has had its own DNA removed. Despite the success of Dolly the sheep and cloned cows, mice and pigs, many animal clones die during embryonic development. Most scientists oppose human cloning. One of the bills -- HR 1644 -- is sponsored by Representatives Dave Weldon, R-Florida, and Bart Stupak, D-Michigan. Representative J.C. Watts, R-Oklahoma, fourth in command of the Republican-led House, said he believes Bush supports the Weldon bill. "The Bush administration has stated the president cannot support a bill on human cloning that allows for so-called 'therapeutic' cloning," he said. "I agree." Watts also said he will push for a vote this summer. Anti-abortion groups are opposed to any use of embryonic cells for research, because they believe the procedure kills a human being. A biologist at the University of Wisconsin isolated the first embryonic stem cells in 1998. Geron helped fund the research, and the company's livelihood at least in part depends on the government allowing stem cell research to continue. Geron holds patents on stem-cell and cloning technologies and therefore stands to win or lose depending on the outcome of the controversy. Thickening the plot even more, former Governor of Wisconsin and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson celebrated by throwing a party in honor of the University of Wisconsin discovery. In the past, Okarma predicted that Thompson would influence Bush to uphold former president Clinton's decision last year to allow embryonic stem cell research as long as the government did not destroy or create any embryos. The rest of the biotech industry has hoped for the same. "BIO supports a ban on the reproductive cloning of human beings, but we are concerned that a broadly drafted bill banning human cloning could inadvertently ban therapeutic cloning, an important area of ongoing medical research," said Michael Werner, director of government relations at the Biotechnology Industry Organization. But after the meeting on Wednesday, that didn't seem likely. The Associated Press contributed to this report http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,44737,00.html * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn