Key
Documents:
Questions
and Answers on Human Cloning, by Congressman Dave Weldon, M.D. --
February, 2003
Official
Bush Administration statement in support of the Weldon-Stupak bill to ban
all human cloning, and in opposition to substitute bill that would permit
"human embryo farms" -- Feb 26, 2003
Dr.
John Gearhart of Johns Hopkins University tells reporters that "therapeutic
cloning" creates an "embryo," which is no longer an
"egg" -- February 26, 2003
--"Will
the U.S. Senate Permit the Opening of Human Embryo Farms?"
by Douglas Johnson
--The
Amazing Vanishing Embryo Trick
(7/17/01)
Federal Legislation
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"Equal
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For immediate release: Thursday,
February 27, 2003
For more information: Douglas Johnson, Legislative Director
202-626-8820, Legfederal@aol.com
House of
Representatives Rejects Bill to Allow "Human Embryo Farms," and
Approves Weldon-Stupak Bill to Ban the Cloning of Human Embryos, 241-155
WASHINGTON (Feb. 27, 2003) – By a decisive, bipartisan vote, the U.S.
House of Representatives today approved legislation to prohibit the creation
of human embryos by cloning. The House approved the Weldon-Stupak
Human Cloning Prohibition Act (H.R. 534), 241-155. The House first
rejected, 174-231, the Greenwood Substitute -- a competing measure that the
White House had condemned as allowing "human embryo farms."
"We applaud the lawmakers who heeded President Bush's call to ban the
creation of human embryos by cloning," said Douglas Johnson, legislative director
for the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC). "Polls show the
public is overwhelmingly opposed to the cloning of human embryos, but some
senators are threatening to filibuster the bill in order to allow biotech
firms to open up cloned human embryo farms."
In his January 28 State of the Union address, President Bush repeated his
past calls for Congress to approve legislation to ban all human cloning.
On February 26, the White House issued a statement strongly condemning the
substitute proposal, saying: "The Administration unequivocally is
opposed to the cloning of human beings either for reproduction or 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 or development of human embryo farms for
research, which would require the destruction of nascent human life."
The White House statement is posted here: www.nrlc.org/killing_embryos/HR534HumanCloningProhibitionActSAP.pdf
Many press reports in recent weeks have misunderstood how the competing
bills really differ. In reality, neither side's bill would restrict
research on human ova ("eggs"), and both allow the use of cloning
methods to produce human DNA, cells, or tissues. The real difference
is this: The Weldon-Stupak bill (and its Senate companion, the
Brownback-Landrieu bill, S. 245) would ban the creation of human embryos by
cloning, while the Greenwood Amendment and the similar Hatch-Feinstein bill
(S. 303) would allow human embryos to be created by cloning and then killed
for biomedical research (including but not limited to "stem cell
research"). On February 21, NRLC sent a letter to most members of
the House, explaining how the Greenwood Substitute would be a step in the
wrong direction. The letter is posted at http://www.nrlc.org/killing_embryos/index.html
The President's Council on Bioethics, although divided on policy
recommendations on human cloning, was in agreement that somatic cell nuclear
transfer (cloning), when successfully performed using human genetic
material, will produce a human embryo. President Clinton's bioethics
panel, NIH, and leading cloning researchers have also acknowledged this to
be true. Dr. John Gearhart of Johns Hopkins University, the
co-discoverer of embryonic stem cells, also this week told reporters that
the product of so-called "therapeutic cloning" is indeed an
"embryo" and no longer an "egg." See www.nrlc.org/killing_embryos/factsheetembryo.html
and www.nrlc.org/killing_embryos/gearheart022603.html
NRLC has released a factsheet that explains in more detail what the
competing bills would allow and what they would forbid: http://www.nrlc.org/killing_embryos/cloningbackrounder021003.html
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