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Congressional Testimony
June 20, 2001, Wednesday
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 1013 words
COMMITTEE:
HOUSE ENERGY AND COMMERCE
SUBCOMMITTEE: HEALTH
HEADLINE:
PROHIBITON ON
HUMAN CLONING
TESTIMONY-BY: MICHAEL BILIRAKIS, R-FLA, CHAIRMAN
BODY: June 20, 2001
Prepared Member
Statement The Committee on Energy and Commerce W.J. "Billy Tauzin" Chairman
Prepared Statement of The Honorable Michael Bilirakis
H.R. 1644,
Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2001, and H.R.____, Cloning
Prohibition Act of 2001 Subcommittee on Health
The hearing will come to
order. I want to thank our witnesses for their time and effort in joining us
today for this important hearing. Today, the Subcommittee on Health will
continue where the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, chaired by
Congressman Jim Greenwood, left off. We will examine two measures which in many
ways reflect the discussions of that hearing: H.R. 1644, sponsored by
Congressmen Weldon and Stupak, and H.R. 2172, sponsored by Congressmen Greenwood
and Deutsch. This is a difficult issue, and it involves many new and complex
concepts. But we should all be clear about the controversies related to
human cloning. The term "therapeutic cloning," which many
people use to mean any type of cloning that is not intended to result in a
pregnancy, is confusing. It really includes two distinct procedures, one of
which is controversial, while the other is not.
The noncontroversial
component of "therapeutic cloning" is the cloning of human tissue that does not
give rise to an embryo. The controversial aspect involves the creation of a
human embryo. This latter meaning is also the subject of both of the bills we
will discuss today. H.R. 1644 seeks to ban the creation of these cloned human
embryos. H.R. 2172 seeks to prevent those who clone human embryos from
implanting them in a surrogate mother.
What are we to make of the
discussion today? Some patient groups want cloned embryos to be created, because
their tissue may prove to be valuable in biomedical research. Some companies
would like to clone human embryos because it will lead to a cheaper way to
manufacture tissue.
Writing in 1947, C.S. Lewis observed in "The
Abolition of Man" that Man's conquest of Nature would be complete when he
finally:
"has obtained full control over himself. Human nature will be
the last part of Nature to surrender to Man. The battle will then be won. We
shall have 'taken the thread of life out of the hand of Clotho' and be
henceforth free to make our species whatever we wish it to be. The battle will
indeed be won. But who, precisely, will have won it? For the power of Man to
make himself what he pleases means, as we have seen, the power of some men to
make other men what they please."
Human cloning rises
to the most essential question of who we are and what we might become if we open
this Pandora's Box. I look forward to the testimony of our witnesses, who will
help us understand just what might be in that box.
LOAD-DATE: June 21, 2001