Cloning Ban Not Yet Scheduled

Will Senate Democratic Leader Act to Prevent Human Embryo Farms?

WASHINGTON (September 11) The Democratic senators who now hold majority control of the U.S. Senate will largely decide whether or not human cloning is banned in the United States.

On July 31, the House of Representatives passed a bill to ban all human cloning by a 103-vote margin. President Bush supports the bill. But the ban faces an uncertain future in the Senate, where Democrats took control on May 24 after Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont abandoned the Republican Party.

"It looks like Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle will have more to say than anyone else in America about whether human embryo farms open for business," commented NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson.

Daschle, who represents South Dakota, took over as Senate Majority Leader when the Democrats assumed their one-seat majority. The majority leader has the predominant role in setting the Senate's schedule.

One private laboratory, Advanced Cell Technology of Worcester, Massachusetts, in July acknowledged that it is actively working to produce cloned human embryos for the purpose of destroying them in medical experimentation or to produce medical products. It is believed that other laboratories may be engaged in similar work. (See sidebar feature, "What is Human Cloning?")

On July 31, the House of Representatives passed the Weldon- Stupak Human Cloning Prohibition Act (H.R. 2505), under which the creation of cloned human embryos would be punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

(See "U.S. House Approves Bill to Ban Human Cloning," August NRL News, page 1.) Senator Sam Brownback (R-Ks.) has introduced a very similar bill in the Senate (S. 790).

"I am determined that the Senate will debate human cloning this fall," Senator Brownback told NRL News. "I am hopeful that our bill to ban all forms of human cloning will be considered as a stand-alone measure. But if that is not allowed, other options are being considered in order to force a vote on the ban."

Senate rules allow senators to offer entire bills in the form of amendments to other, unrelated bills, and senators sometimes employ this right in order to force votes on measures that are not supported by the majority leader.

If human cloning techniques are perfected, laboratories would create cloned human embryos for the sole purpose of destroying them to obtain their stem cells or for other medical purposes.

The Weldon-Stupak-Brownback ban is supported by National Right to Life and other pro-life groups. It is also supported by a growing number of "left" leaning groups that see human cloning as a threat to fundamental human rights.

Daschle Comments
Multiple polls show public opposition to human cloning at over 80%, including specific questions about embryo cloning. This is, no doubt, one factor that explains the evident unease among some senior congressional Democrats on the cloning issue.

Shortly before the July 31 House vote, Daschle was asked by a reporter, "Are you against using embryonic tissue for human cloning or are you for it?" Daschle replied, "I am opposed to the effort to clone under virtually any circumstances that I can think of. I think human cloning is totally different and should be separated from the issue of aggressive embryonic stem cell research."

The next day, after the House passed the bill, Daschle elaborated:

"I'm opposed to human cloning. I think virtually every one of my colleagues is opposed to human cloning. I'm very uncomfortable with even cloning for research purposes."

However, the September 1 edition of National Journal reported that Daschle spokeswoman Anita Dunn "said the Democratic leader did not expect to bring up Brownback's anti-cloning bill for debate."

But that may not be Daschle's last word on the matter especially considering some of the remarks made by some of his Democratic colleagues in recent weeks.

On September 5 senior Democratic senator, Chris Dodd of Connecticut, used the term "hatchery" to refer to proposals to create embryos for the purpose of destructive research, and he added, "I vehemently oppose that." Another Democratic senator at the hearing, Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, said she also opposed special creation of embryos for research. Both senators are liberals who strongly support legal abortion, and both support federal funding of stem cell research that would require the destruction of human embryos.

Another example was provided when the leader of House Democrats, Rep. Richard Gephardt (Mo.), appeared on NBC Meet the Press on August 19. Host Tim Russert asked him for his reaction to President Bush's August 9 speech on embryonic stem cell research. Although Russert had not asked about cloning, Gephardt interjected, "Obviously, we don't want cloning. Nobody is for cloning."

A minute later again without being askedGephardt said, "We passed a law saying no cloning and I think that's the law that we ought to follow," referring to the bill that passed the House on July 31 over Gephardt's objections.

NRLC's Douglas Johnson commented, "The House did indeed pass a law that says no cloning, but it is odd that Mr. Gephardt is now identifying himself with that bill, since he voted against it. If he has changed his mind and now believes that the Weldon- Stupak-Brownback bill is the law we ought to follow, which is what he said, then he should urge his fellow Democratic leader, Senator Daschle, to immediately schedule Senate action on the bill."

BIO Opposes Bill
The ban on cloning is strongly opposed by the powerful Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), which represents biotechnology corporations that wish to use cloning to mass- produce human embryos for destructive research. The bio- technology firms refer to this practice as "therapeutic cloning" or "research cloning."

In the House, BIO backed an alternative bill, sponsored by Congressman Jim Greenwood (R-Pa.), that would have allowed laboratories registered with the federal government to create any number of human embryos by cloning, but also would have made it a crime to implant any such cloned embryo in a woman's womb. BIO and its allies refer to this approach as "a ban on reproductive cloning," but NRLC and other pro-life groups refer to the BIO approach as "clone and kill."

When the Senate takes up the human cloning issue, it is expected that senators allied with BIO will offer a similar "clone and kill" alternative.

The president of BIO, Carl Feldbaum, told National Journal magazine (Sept. 1) that he thought his side could defeat the bill to ban cloning human embryos, but "I'm not complacent."

As of September 10, 14 Republican senators had signed on as cosponsors of the Brownback bill: Bennett (Utah), Bond (Mo.), DeWine (Ohio), Ensign (Nv.), Helms (NC), Hutchinson (Ar.), Inhofe (Ok.), Kyl (Az.), Sessions (Al.), Shelby (Al.), Bob Smith (NH), and Gordon Smith (Or.).

In addition, Republican Senators Bunning (Ky.), Grassley (Iowa), and Santorum (Pa.) joined Brownback and seven of the cosponsors in signing an August 30 letter to Daschle, urging him to bring the House-passed bill to the Senate floor.

What is Human Cloning?

The Weldon-Stupak-Brownback bill would ban a cloning method known as "somatic cell nuclear transfer." In this method, genetic material is removed from a cell of one person's body -- for example, a skin cell -- and transferred into a hollowed-out human or animal egg cell. The united cell is then stimulated with an electric current. This stimulus, when successful, results in successful creation of a new human embryo. This embryo has only one parent, and has the same genetic makeup as that parent.

Researchers already have cloned sheep, goats, cattle, and some other mammals, but so far there is no confirmed report of any researcher successfully using cloning to create human embryos. However, many researchers believe that the method can also be made to work with human beings.

Federal bio-ethics commissions and top cloning researchers have acknowledged that this method, once applied to humans, would produce human embryos -- although for political purposes, some advocates of cloning are now trying to persuade the news media and lawmakers that the living, developing human individual created by cloning should not be called an "embryo." (For documentation, see www.nrlc.org/Killing_Embryos/Index.html, and "The Amazing Vanishing Embryo Trick," by Douglas Johnson, August NRL News, page 14.)

NRLC believes that the life of each human being, at every stage of development, is deserving of respect and protection, regardless of the circumstances under which that human life was created. In contrast, some biotechnology corporations and some medical researchers wish to use cloning to create human embryos for the sole purpose of killing them in medical experimentation -- a practice that they call "therapeutic cloning."

In addition, a few doctors have stated that they wish to implant cloned embryos in the wombs of women volunteers for the purpose of producing live-born babies - -so-called "reproductive cloning." Animal cloning has produced a high percentage of malformed fetuses, so any researchers who engage in such attempts in humans would probably rely heavily on the use of abortion to prevent the birth of malformed babies and the legal problems that might result.

The Weldon-Stupak-Brownback bill would ban the use of cloning to produce a human embryo, but it does not ban the use of other cloning techniques to produce cells or tissues that do not involve creating a human embryo.

Lawmakers Opposed to Bush Policy Appear Uncertain on Next Move

Members of Congress who favor federal funding of research that requires the death of human embryos appear to be divided on how to respond to the plan that President Bush announced in a nationally televised speech on August 9.

The President refused to accept Clinton Administration guidelines under which federal funds would have been generally available for stem cell research that requiring the killing of human embryos. Under the Clinton plan, such embryos would have been obtained from private infertility laboratories, where they were originally created by in vitro fertilization to help infertile couples.

Instead, President Bush authorized funding of research only on stem cell lines that already existed prior to August 9. The Administration says that it has identified 64 such cell lines around the world. (See "Bush Blocks Stem Cell Funding That Would Destroy Embryos," August NRL News, page 1.)

Some senators who had earlier urged Bush to support embryonic stem cell research (ESCR), such as Senator Bill Frist (R-Tn.), expressed approval of the President's plan.

But others have argued that Bush's plan is too restrictive. They have claimed that various technical and ownership issues make many of the 64 cell lines of doubtful value to researchers.

In response to such criticisms, William Pierce, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, told the Washington Post (August 30), "The president did not have a number [of existing stem cell lines] in mind when he made a decision. If there had been two, he would have made the same decision. If there were 128, it still would have been his decision."

Among the critics is Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Ma.), who is chairman of the Senate committee with primary jurisdiction over health policy issues. At a September 5 hearing, Kennedy, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), and some other Democrats suggested that the existing cell lines were too few and that the Administration should expand its plan to allow researchers to use additional cell lines derived from embryos killed in the future.

Kennedy said he and some scientists "are concerned that the president's decision establishes restrictive conditions on this critical research and will delay development of cures for dread diseases for many years."

Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson defended the Administration plan. In response to questions, Thompson told the committee that under no circumstances would the White House change its policy in order to allow funding of research on additional stem cell lines begun after August 9.

Republican Senator Arlen Specter (Pa.), the Senate's leading activist in favor of embryo-destructive research, said he may offer an amendment to overturn President Bush's restrictions to the annual appropriations bill that funds health programs. The Senate will act on that bill later this fall. But it is not yet clear whether key Senate Democrats agree that this is the time to challenge President Bush on the issue.

Senator Kennedy has not yet decided whether his committee will report out a bill to change the President's policy, according to press reports.

Also noncommittal was Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who chairs the appropriations subcommittee that reports out the health appropriation bill that Specter wishes to amend. Harkin, a strong advocate of stem cell research that would require the destruction of human embryos, has scheduled hearings for September 12 and 19 on the details of the Administration's plan.

President Bush himself has said that if Congress sends him a bill that would fund stem cell research under terms more expansive than his policy, he will veto it.

"The statement I laid out is what I think is right for America," the President said on August 13. "Any piece of legislation that undermines what I think is right will be vetoed."

Critics of the President's policy realize that they have little hope of overriding a veto, which would require a two-thirds vote in each house of Congress.

Polls following the President's August 9 speech showed that those expressing approval of the President's policy heavily outnumbered those who disapproved of the policy.

If Kennedy, Harkin, and other Democratic leaders decide to challenge the President's policy this fall, their efforts will be strongly resisted by pro-life senators, led by Senator Sam Brownback (R-Ks.). Brownback has said that if legislation to promote embryo-destructive research is brought to the Senate floor, he will offer numerous amendments, including an amendment to ban all human cloning. (See main story, page 1.)

For further information, please see the Action Alert that begins on the back cover. Also, visit the NRLC website at www.nrlc.org under "Federal Legislation: Killing Human Embryos."

For information on what you can do to help on this issue, see the Action Alerts that appear on page11 and on the back cover of this issue.