RE: More on biparisan anti-cloning Bill

June 6, 2002

Just to clarify, these legislations do only apply to

government funded research, and do not in any way restict the private

sector from working in cloning, right??

At 6/6/02 12:37 PM Thursday, you wrote:

Hi all,

A bipartisan group of Senators has written an unprecedented detailed set

of rules for the cloning of cells which would still ban cloning humans in

any form. Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Arlen Specter (R-Pa.),

Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), and Kennedy (D-Mass.) have written

extremely tight rules allowing the cloning of embryo-like entities

(blastocysts) for research. These rules would NOT permit placing

those entities into either a womb OR even an artificial womb thereby

banning the possibility of cloning a human being. The only

" body parts " to be cloned would be specific cells such as glial

cells or dopamine producing neurons.

This would stop any idea of cloning a human being, yet allow research on

stem cells to repalce dead brain cells and insulin producing cells for

diabetic patients. It would not stop the cloning of adult stem

cells for cancer research either. The Brownback Bill however, could

be used to ban existing cancer treatments as they do grow (clone) new

cells from adult stem cells for existing cancer treatments. It is

important that your Senators hear from you on these Bills. If

neither Bill passes - there will be NO Ban on cloning and people can

clone babies. It is important that a Bill passes which has a

reasonable compromise, the Feinstein Bill attemps to reach a compromise

and still allow some medical research, BUT it DOES ban cloning a human

being as well as banning the cloning of " body parts such as arms,

legs and organs " .

For details see:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2415-2002Jun5.html

Take care, Bill Werre

----------------------------------------------

Senators' Bill Details Rules On Cloning Research

By a Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, June 6, 2002; Page A03

An intensive effort by a bipartisan group of senators to craft detailed rules governing research on cloned human embryos is nearly complete and could be ready for a floor debate and vote within one to two weeks, sources involved in the process said yesterday.

The new language spells out in unprecedented detail what scientists would -- and would not -- be allowed to do in the controversial field of human embryo cloning research. It is being

written primarily by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Kennedy (D-Mass.), Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) -- all of whom favor allowing the research to go

forward -- and is to be added to a bill that they and others introduced last month.

By including a raft of specific scientific and ethical restrictions in the bill, the senators hope to garner the last votes they need to gain passage, Feinstein said in an interview. But opponents renewed their pledge yesterday to fight for an alternative bill, introduced by Sens. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Landrieu (D-La.), that would outlaw all research involving cloned human embryos.

Both the Feinstein-Kennedy bill and the Brownback-Landrieu bill would ban " reproductive cloning, " the creation of cloned babies. At issue is whether scientists should be allowed to

create human embryos or embryo-like entities for research.

Proponents of the research say it could lead to cures for a range of ailments. Opponents say that it is unethical to create human embryos just to destroy them again, and that similar

research could be done on adult cells.

Recent head counts suggest that both bills are short of the 60-vote majority that probably will be needed to gain passage. That has led some to fear that neither will pass, leaving the nation without the one thing both sides agree on: a ban on reproductive cloning.

The recent effort by Feinstein and others to come up with wording to reassure Senate fence-sitters includes a strict limit on how old a cloned embryo could become before requiring that it be destroyed. Although other countries have set that limit at 14 days, Hatch is pushing for 12, to make the U.S. standard the toughest in the world, sources said.

The reworded bill also would require the General Accounting Office to review the effectiveness of the legislation after one year, and have the Institute of Medicine review the field after five years.

It also would describe strict ethical and scientific reviews that would be required of any proposed embryo cloning research. And it would set up protections for women whose eggs might be used for the research, Feinstein and others said, similar to the protections already in place regarding the use of aborted human fetal tissue in research.

" Our bill would very precisely ban human cloning, " while maintaining " a potentially enormously rewarding area of research, " Feinstein said.

Doerflinger of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, offered a different view. " Efforts to more tightly regulate embryo cloning only end up with the government more and more directly involved in requiring their destruction, " he said. " That does not solve the problem at all. "

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June 6, 2002