"The utilitarian mindset that would sacrifice small people for the benefit of big people has to stop now," said Judie Brown, president of American Life League. "It all boils down to one basic principle. Scientists have no right to produce human beings in the laboratory."

This week, a Senate committee is considering a bill sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) that would allow human cloning for destructive experiments in search of alleged medical cures. A similar bill sponsored by Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) would allow human cloning according to federal guidelines.

"The Harkin and Feinstein cloning bills not only allow for the mass production of human embryos, but they would require that all of these living human beings be killed before implantation," said Mrs. Brown. "Let's not be fooled by the rhetoric. What these bills propose -- 'cloning for cures' -- kills human beings."

"Given the fact that the Harkin and Feinstein bills only ban the implantation of cloned human embryos, these proposals fall far short of our desired goal -- a total ban on all forms of human cloning," said Mrs. Brown.

Release issued: 27 Feb 02