Copyright 2001 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company The Houston Chronicle
November 27, 2001, Tuesday 3 STAR
EDITION
SECTION: A; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 903 words
HEADLINE: Bush
calls for ban on human cloning
SOURCE: Staff
BYLINE: KAREN
MASTERSON, Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY: WASHINGTON - Angered that a Massachusetts company cloned human embryos
for stem cell research, President Bush and key lawmakers called for the Senate
to take up legislation banning such practices immediately.
They were supported Monday by a broad coalition of Christian groups,
women's rights organizations and environmentalists.
"We
should not, as a society, grow life to destroy it," Bush declared at a news
conference.
Lawmakers from both parties oppose the
cloning of humans, and the public opposes the practice, even for purposes of
medical research, by a 2-to-1 margin, according to an ABC News/Beliefnet poll.
But several Democrats said Monday that some cloning
may be necessary, strictly for research, if it allows scientists to extract
embryonic stem cells without destroying fertilized eggs - which also is
controversial.
The House passed an anti-cloning bill
earlier this year, just before Congress recessed for August. The Senate has not
acted, largely because measures associated with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks
have taken precedence.
On Monday, Bush was visibly
agitated and declared "morally wrong" a Worcester, Mass., biotechnology
company's creation of the first human embryos through cloning.
Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., the Senate's point man for legislation that
would ban embryonic stem cell research and human cloning, said Sunday's
announcement by Advanced Cell Technology was exactly what the House bill had
tried to prevent.
"We need to pass legislation in the
United States Senate dealing with the issue of human cloning," he said Monday at
a news conference of more than a dozen anti-cloning activists.
"The countdown is over," said Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who sponsored
the House-passed ban. "Human beings have been cloned in the United States, and I
am embarrassed and saddened that our laws say it is perfectly legal."
ACT officials said Sunday that the embryos died quickly,
before they developed stem cells. Still, those officials said the research was
encouraging because it indicated that cloning may one day artificially create
embryos and replace the practice of destroying fertilized eggs for their stem
cells.
Among the most controversial questions Bush
faced early in his administration was whether fertilized eggs from fertility
clinics should be destroyed for the sake of extracting stem cells - which are
thought to hold the key to cures for everything from diabetes to cancer.
In early August, the president announced his long-awaited
decision, declaring that federal funds may be used on stem cell lines that
already had been extracted from embryos, but not for future extractions.
Whether ACT, a privately held company, or other private
researchers are able to clone embryos in a way that would allow researchers to
extract stem cells remains to be seen.
Nonetheless,
this first step has many policymakers on the defensive, particularly those who
oppose cloning for all purposes except medical research.
"I strongly oppose the use of cloning technology to reproduce a human
being, and I have previously introduced legislation to ban such reproductive
cloning," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. "But we must also protect essential
areas of medical research involving cloning technology, including stem cell
research."
Kennedy, who is chairman of the Senate
committee that covers health-related issues, said the promise stem cell research
holds for potential treatments and cures for many diseases means the research
needs to continue.
Some lawmakers also worry that
anti-abortion leaders will try to use the cloning debate to define an embryo as
a human being, which could potentially blur the lines for when a woman may
rightly terminate a pregnancy.
However, Brownback's
coalition against cloning included several liberal and conservative groups -
including abortion foes such as the National Right to Life Committee and the
Christian Coalition, and abortion rights supporters such as the United
Methodists and International Center for Technology Assessment.
At the news conference, the ACT researchers were called mad scientists
who were paving the way for human embryo farms that would redefine the meaning
of human life.
Environmentalists also entered the
fray.
Brent Blackwelder, president of the liberal
environmental group Friends of the Earth, said ACT's research was a grotesque
manipulation of nature that could seek to remake Eden with designer babies, and
pets without allergies.
Earlier this month, Senate
Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., who opposes human cloning but supports
cloning for medical research, convinced senators to postpone debate on the
subject until February or March.
On Monday, Daschle's
spokesman said he does not intend to bring the matter up any earlier because he
wants to give lawmakers enough time to study the facts. Brownback wants to bring
it up this week but will not be able to without Daschle's support.
Sunday's announcement by ACT recharged those who have
awaited a permanent ban on cloning.
"Human cloning
perverts science in the name of research," said House Majority Whip Tom DeLay,
R-Sugar Land. "Every innocent human life is precious and must not be destroyed
or manipulated by scientists."
And House Majority
Leader Dick Armey, R-Flower Mound, added: "It's time for the Senate to put the
deal-making aside and join the House in banning human cloning - before it's too
late."
GRAPHIC: Photo: Sen. Sam Brownback,
R-Kan., challenges the Senate to pass a bill outlawing human cloning (color);
Associated Press
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