 |
 |
Virtual New York / UPI Tuesday, 31 July 2001 19:51 (ET) House bans human cloning By MARK BENJAMIN WASHINGTON, July 31 (UPI) -- The House on Tuesday voted to ban human cloning and to prohibit the practice of cloning human embryos for medical research. The House voted 265-162 to ban both, wading into a scientific and ethical vortex similar to the situation President Bush has been struggling with for months over stem cell research. While both sides in a heated House debate Tuesday agreed the government should ban cloning human beings, lawmakers clashed over whether human embryos should be cloned for scientific research. "Cloning treats human embryos -- the basic elements of life itself -- as a simple raw material," House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said. "This exploitative, unholy technique is no better than medical strip mining." But some lawmakers said the bill would derail possibly vital medical breakthroughs. "This would stop ongoing studies to help people suffering from a whole litany of life-threatening diseases," House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, D-Mich., said. At issue is the use of a process called "somatic cell nuclear transfer" to clone an embryo. That process includes stripping the 23 chromosomes from a human egg, replacing them with the chromosomes from a human being, and stimulating those cells to begin division. From there, researchers can then cull scientifically valuable and flexible "stem cells." Scottish scientists in 1997 used that same basic process to plant a viable egg in a sheep and create the now-famous cloned sheep named Dolly. Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., drafted the bill the House passed, H.R. 2505, banning both cloning and the cloning of human cells for research. Reps. Jim Greenwood, R-Pa., and Peter Deutsch, D-Fla., drafted H.R. 2172 -- an amendment rejected in a 249-178 vote -- that would have banned the practice of human cloning but would have regulated the research and allowed it to continue. The White House is opposed to cloning embryos for research. "The administration is strongly opposed to any legislation that would prohibit human cloning for reproductive purposes but permit the creation of cloned embryos for research," the White House said in a prepared statement. The National Right to Life Committee's Douglas Johnson opposes the process of cloning embryos for research. "The House has acted to block the creation of human embryo farms," Johnson, the group's legislative director, wrote members in a July 30 letter. Johnson urged the Senate to do the same -- an unclear prospect at this point. NARAL spokesman William Lutz said the abortion rights group had declined to weigh in on the issue. "Research is a concern for us," Lutz said. "But when it comes to these bills, it is just not about the right to choose." Some major medical groups, including the American Medical Association, also declined to weigh in. Members of that group have also been split on the ethics surrounding the stem cell research issue. But Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said the cells just do not count as human life. "Some of us believe a clump of cells do not have the same rights as a person who is suffering from a human disease," Nadler said. "The clump of cells does not have the same value as a human being." Bush has struggled for months over whether to use federal funds for stem cell research. Human stem cells are considered particularly valuable for medical research because they have the potential to become any kind of tissue. Such cells can be culled from a variety of sources, including human embryos. Embryonic stem cells have the most flexibility to differentiate into different tissues and are considered by researchers to hold the greatest potential for finding treatments for ailments such as diabetes, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. Some of Bush's closest allies, including Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., have said they would support such research so long as human embryos are not created solely for the purpose of manufacturing stem cells for research. Some lawmakers said openly Tuesday that they did not know enough about the issue to cast a constructive vote. "I feel like I don't know what I need to know before I cast a vote on this important issue," Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., said. Rep. Diane DeGette, D-Colo., called the debate "one of the most complex medical and ethical issues the House will ever face." -- SOURCE: United Press International http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=207566 * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn