come provides ammunition to advocates and opponents on all sides of the issue. A statement released by the White House said that the President “ap- preciated” the work done by the Council, while simulta- neously dismissing it by saying that, “the President urges the Senate to follow the House’s lead and take action this year to ban
all human cloning.”
Sen. Sam Brownback (R- KS), lead sponsor of the anti- cloning legislation in the
United States
Senate, praised the idea
of a mora- torium, but also took
excep- tion to the report.
“Unfortunately, I do have some areas
of disagreement with the bioet- hics
council. In particular, I do not believe that we can separate the issue of human cloning into two different categories
by making policy recommendations
based on the intentions of the researcher,”
he said. The Coalition for the Advancement
of Medical Research, a group of 60
patient groups, scientific societies and
university groups co-founded by the ASCB,
also ex- pressed its opposition to the
report. “The Council’s recommendation
is a blow to the millions of Americans
fighting life-threat- ening medical
conditions, because a mora- torium has the
same effect as a ban on life- saving
research,” said Michael Manganiello, President of
CAMR. The House of Represen-
tatives passed legislation
last year that would
ban both reproductive
cloning and nuclear
transplanta- tion. The U.S.
Senate has yet to complete action. If
inac- tion continues until the
Sen- ate adjourns for the year,
it is almost certain the
issue will be debated once again when the
new Congress begins its work in
January. For a copy of the
Bioethics Council report and transcripts of the Council’s deliberations,
see http://www.bioethics.gov.
n 12 Continue
The ASCB Newsletter, Vol 25, No
8 n Congress
Still Weighing Homeland Security Proposal Committees in both the House of Represen- tatives and the Senate continue
to work with unusual speed to
act on legislation proposed by President
Bush that would re- organize the Federal
government by trans- ferring large sections
to a newly created Department of Homeland
Security (DHS). The President
has asked that legislation creating the new department be ready for him to sign into law by September 11. Many provisions of the bill drafted by the President have met with strong objec- tions on Capitol Hill, ranging from Consti- tutional and policy disagreements to the desire by powerful members of Congress to protect their favorite Federal programs. One policy disagreement has been over the President’s proposal to transfer por- tions of the National Institutes of Health to
DHS. The President modified his
proposal to allow the Secretary for
Homeland Secu- rity to conduct his research
responsibili- ties “through the Department
of Health and Human Services …under
agreements with the Secretary of Health and
Human Ser- vices.” The
Secretary of DHS was also granted the ability to transfer funds, estab-
lish the research and development program
and set research priorities. The House of Representatives is mov- ing faster than the Senate. The House En- ergy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the research and devel- opment portions of the DHS bill, objected to any transfer of NIH responsibilities and instead has given the Secretary of Health and Human Services the authority to “set priorities for such activities [civilian hu-
man health-related research and develop-
ment activities related to countermeasures
for chemical, biological radiological and
A statement released
by the White House
said that the
President “appreci- ated” the work done by
the Council, while
simulta- neously
dismissing it by say- ing that, “the President urges the Senate to
follow the House’s
lead and take action this year to ban all human cloning.” “The Council’s
recom- mendation is a blow to
the millions of
Americans fighting
life-threatening medical conditions, be- cause a moratorium has
the same effect as a
ban on life-saving
research.”