Another good source for current scientific and political news -updated
daily- on stem cell and SCNT research, can be found on "Stem Cell
Research News" web site:
http://www.stemcellresearchnews.com/
Republican Senator Orrin Hatch's views appear in the excerpt below :
from: The Washington Times
Congress grapples over cloning issues
by Steve Mitchell
UPI Medical Correspondent
January 29, 2003
"WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Following President George W. Bush's
renewed call for a ban on human cloning, senators and members of Congress
debated the ethical and medical implications of the issue at a Senate
hearing Wednesday.
Republicans generally favored banning the technology completely,
while a bipartisan group urged that it be permitted only for the purpose
of producing cells potentially to treat diseases.
Most reputable scientists favor banning reproductive cloning but
want to allow therapeutic cloning -- using the technology to produce
embryonic stem cells or tissues -- because they think it has the
potential to treat currently incurable diseases such as Parkinson's and
diabetes, as well as paralysis. ...
The Republicans were led by Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, who argued
that all forms of cloning should be banned because of moral and ethical
concerns.
Brownback introduced legislation in the Senate Wednesday to ban all
human cloning. Under the bill, anyone attempting to clone a human being
would face criminal penalties on the order of 10 years in jail and $1
million in fines...
Despite Brownback's assertions that most Americans oppose cloning, a
bipartisan group of senators -- including some right-to-life Republicans
-- spoke out in favor of allowing therapeutic cloning.
"I am here today to speak to the subcommittee about how to stop the
offensive practice of human reproductive cloning while at the same time,
allowing vital biomedical research to go forward under moral and ethical
guidelines and protections," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, a
self-described right-to-lifer.
"A critical feature of being pro-life in my opinion is helping the
living," Hatch said. "Helping those millions of American families
struggling with the challenges of debilitating diseases is exactly what
stem cell research ... from (therapeutic cloning) promises," he said.
Hatch, along with several other senators, plans to introduce
alternative legislation next week to ban reproductive cloning but allow
therapeutic cloning. Last year, the House passed legislation that would
ban all cloning, but the Senate failed to pass a matching measure because
some senators favored allowing therapeutic cloning.
"Failure to enact legislation that sanctions (therapeutic cloning)
research accompanied by stringent ethical safeguards undermines America's
role as a leader in biomedical research," Hatch said. It "may result in
the potentially revolutionary fruits of this research -- as well as some
of our leading researchers -- in moving offshore and away from the
American public."
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