Once again, America is in the middle of the cloning debate.

Researchers at a Worcester, Massachusetts biotech company, Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), confirmed this past weekend that they succeeded in creating the world's first cloned human embryos.  Although the embryos only grew for a few hours and formed microscopic balls containing just four to six cells each, the work was sufficiently advanced both scientifically and ethically to spark another debate on human cloning--one that Congress has not discussed since the September 11th attacks.

Earlier this year, the House clearly asserted its position on this debate.  On July 31, 2001, the House overwhelmingly passed H.R. 2505, the Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2001, by a vote of 265-162.  Introduced by Representative Dave Weldon of Florida, this bill would ban human cloning by prohibiting the experimental scientific techniques that were used to create the infamous sheep Dolly from being used to create human embryos.  H.R. 2505 does not prohibit the use of cloning technology for such ethically acceptable procedures as cloning insulin genes for the treatment of diabetes, or cloning cells to study cancer or other genetic diseases.

The bill has been referred to the Senate, where it has languished.  Although Majority Leader Tom Daschle has said that he will hold hearings on this subject early next year, that's not soon enough.  The Senate should have held hearings and voted on the bill by now, so that the President could have signed something into law--something that could perhaps have prevented ACT from taking this first step towards playing God.

Chief Executive Michael West has repeatedly maintained that ACT has no interest in cloning human babies.  Instead, its goal is to grow embryos for a few days, then separate their embryonic stem cells and use them to grow into different kinds of human tissues.  This procedure, innocuously described as therapeutic cloning, is very disconcerting.  To be sure, ACT's actions are not illegal under current law.  Although federal funds may not be used to conduct research on human cloning, present law allows private companies to use their funds as they see fit--and ACT has certainly charged forward.  

Any attempt to clone a human being represents experimentation on the resulting child-to-be.  Each experiment runs a high risk of failure.  In animal experiments conducted so far, there has been a failure rate of over 98 percent.  In addition to the fetal deaths and stillborn infants, many of the so-called "successes" (live births) have in fact been failures as they died shortly after birth.  After all, it took 277 stillborn, miscarried, or dead sheep to make one Dolly.

The Massachusetts company has opened the doors for itself and others to slide down the slippery slope of cloning human embryos.  Though not around the corner, this recent action does mean that barring specific legislation, "embryo farms" could soon become a reality.  A recent poll found that 90 percent of American adults were opposed to cloning humans.  The House, in representing its constituents, has passed judgment on this issue.  Further, I sent a letter this week to Majority Leader Daschle urging him to bring H.R. 2505 to the floor.  It is time the Senate followed suit, and supported the ban on human cloning.