More on biparisan anti-cloning Bill

[Guest guest]

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

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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."

© 2002 The Washington Post Company