WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Greg Ganske today voiced his opposition to human cloning during a Health Subcommittee hearing on the Human Cloning Prohibition Act, H.R. 1644. The committee received testimony from Undersecretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Claude Allen and from researchers, ethicists and theologians.

"Cloning of human beings is wrong. Some shrug their shoulders and say ‘Well, it’s going to happen anyway.’ I say we make it illegal to clone a human being in the United States and work to make it internationally illegal too. I believe there is bipartisan support to ban the cloning of human beings," said Ganske.

Cloning is defined as making genetically identical copies of a single cell or organism. The actual prospect of human cloning was first raised in February 1997 when Scottish scientist Ian Wilmut announced the successful cloning of an adult sheep, Dolly, using a technique that previously had not been fully successful in mammals. In the human context, the cloning process involves replacing the nucleus from a female human egg cell with the nucleus of an adult cell from the individual to be cloned. On March 4, 1997, President Clinton released a statement prohibiting the use of federal funds for cloning of human beings. Since the ban did not cover non-federally funded research, the President also requested a voluntary moratorium on human cloning by privately funded researchers.

At today’s hearing, Ganske, who practiced medicine before going to Congress, said, "Some want to ban stem cell cloning. Some want to ban all cloning. We must be careful in this legislation not to prevent needed medical advances. In 1992, I took care of a child who was burned over 95% of his body. We treated him with cloned epithelium (skin cells). We must make sure that when we legislate on this important issue that we don’t preclude promising treatments for patients like that unfortunate, badly burned child."