WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) today held a news conference with representatives of the broad left-middle-right coalition supporting the bipartisan Brownback-Landrieu Human Cloning Prohibition Act (S. 1899), which would ban all human cloning.

“Today, we are announcing some of the support that has been building behind our effort to ban cloning, as well as urging immediate Senate consideration of our bipartisan bill to ban human cloning,” Brownback said. “Human cloning is an issue of vast importance to our society - and for humanity. It reveals the values we hold, and the worth we place on human life. It is an issue that the Senate must address.

“When we have the Senate debate, it will be about whether we, as a society, will allow human beings to be mass produced, to pre-ordained specifications, for their eventual implantation or destruction. Will the Senate draw the line at dehumanizing experimentation like the House has already done, and like the president has requested? This issue must be addressed by the Senate before the technology overtakes the debate.

“Momentum is continuing to grow behind our bipartisan bill, which currently has 23 cosponsors. A broad coalition of groups on the left, in the middle, and on the right support a ban on human cloning. Today, I am pleased to stand here with representatives of this strong coalition.

“The U.S. House of Representatives passed a total and comprehensive ban on all human cloning by over 100 votes last year. President Bush has said he would sign our bill into law. Canada has also recently followed suit by enacting a similar ban on human cloning. Even the state legislature in South Dakota has passed a resolution calling for passage of our bipartisan bill to ban cloning. Now, the U.S. Senate must act,” Brownback said.

Participants included U.S. Sens. Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA); Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Foundation on Economic Trends; Jaydee R. Hanson, assistant general secretary for the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church; Genevieve Wood, vice president, Family Research Council.