S 1893 IS

To ban human cloning while protecting stem cell research.

January 24, 2002

Mr. HARKIN (for himself, Mr. SPECTER, Mrs. BOXER, and Mr. REID) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

To ban human cloning while protecting stem cell research.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Human Cloning Ban and Stem Cell Research Protection Act of 2002'.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICES ACT.

Part H of Title IV of the Public Health Services Act (42 U.S.C. 289 et seq.), is amended by adding at the end the following:

`SEC. 498C. HUMAN CLONING AND STEM CELL RESEARCH.

`(a) PROHIBITION- It shall be unlawful for any person or entity, public or private, in or affecting interstate commerce--

`(1) to perform or attempt to perform human cloning; or

`(2) to ship, receive, or import the product of nuclear transplantation for the purpose of human cloning.

`(b) PENALTIES-

`(1) CRIMINAL PENALTIES- Any person or entity that is convicted of violating any provision of this section shall be fined under this section and imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.

`(2) CIVIL PENALTIES- Any person or entity that is convicted of violating any provision of this section shall be subject to a civil penalty of not less than $1,000,000 and, in the case of a violation that involves the derivation of a pecuniary gain greater than $1,000,000, an amount equal to not more than the amount of such gain multiplied by 2.

`(c) DEFINITIONS- In this section:

`(1) HUMAN CLONING- The term `human cloning' means asexual human reproduction by implanting or attempting to implant the product of nuclear transplantation into a woman's uterus or a substitute for a woman's uterus.

`(2) SOMATIC CELL- The term `somatic cell' means a diploid cell (having a complete set of chromosomes) obtained or derived from a living or deceased human body at any stage of development.

`(3) NUCLEAR TRANSPLANTATION- The term `nuclear transplantation' means introducing the nuclear material of a human somatic cell into a fertilized or unfertilized oocyte from which the nucleus has been or will be removed or inactivated.

`(d) SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH- Nothing in this section shall be construed to restrict areas of biomedical, agricultural, and scientific research not specifically prohibited by this section, including somatic cell nuclear transfer or other cloning technologies to clone molecules, DNA, cells, and tissues.'.

END