Linda,
Your question involves a very technical area of law called "federal
preemption," i.e. did the federal government intend to preempt the field,
thereby preventing the state from regulating this area. These laws on
cloning impose criminal penalties, and my quess would be, like other areas of
criminal law, the federal law does not preempt the field. A person could be
subject to criminal penalties on the federal level and the state level at the
same time, another incentive for people not to engage in the prohibited
cloning and somatic cell nuclear transplantation activities. If the federal
government allowed therapeutic cloning, and the state did not, or the
reverse, the situation would be more complicated and I would assume that the
educational institutions, the pharmeceutical companies, etc. would engage in
a cost-benefit analysis as to how to proceed. And, there is the subsequent
issue of the enforcement of the law and the issue as which law, federal or
state, would be applied. An example of the double tier of criminal laws
currently would be drug enforcement, but I would envision the enforcement of
a double-tier system of criminal cloning laws to be much more complicated
Also I would think that there would be a chilling effect on research, and the
availability of monies for research--federal money, if therapeutic cloning
was legal on the federal level, would not go to an educational or research
institution in a state where therapeutic cloning is illegal. Amazing how
complicated this could get. Katie from Green Bay.
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