CloningBan

Over the weekend Advanced Cell technology (ACT), a Boston, Mass. company, announced that they have created a cloned human embryo. Not only that, but they published the blueprint on how it can be done. This means that scientists across this country can now take those blueprints and begin creating cloned human embryos for both research and reproductive purposes.

Where is our national policy on all this? Stalled in the Democratic-held Senate. Here's a brief recap:

National polls indicate Americans support a ban on human cloning by 82%.
House of Representatives passes Ban (H.R. 2505) with a strong bipartisan vote (265-162) on July 31, 2001.
President Bush says he is ready to sign Ban into law.
U.S. Senate has yet to even schedule a floor debate.

For four months the Senate has failed to act on that bill. Just recently, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle announced that the Senate planned to take up the bill next Spring. Just weeks after that announcement comes the announcement of cloned human embryos. Now Sen. Daschle can add this dubious event to his resume: Presided over the creation and destruction of human clones.

The next question is, will his failure to take up the House-passed bill permit the birth of the first cloned human baby?

Back in July, when we considered the Weldon/Stupak ban on human cloning, opponents said this stuff was so far in the future that we were overreacting. This weekend's announcement should put all of those arguments to rest. The failure of the Senate to act now, will indeed lead to experimentation with cloned human embryos.

Please urge the Senate to act on this bill before we adjourn the end of this session.

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