The US House of Representatives voted by a wide margin on Tuesday for a total ban on human cloning. The ban covers not only reproductive cloning, but also cloning human embryos for medical research and 鈥渢herapeutic cloning鈥�, which allows the harvesting of cells from embryos to treat disease.
The vast majority of Representatives oppose reproductive cloning, the creation of identical genetic replicas of adults, and so the debate centred on cloning for research and therapeutic purposes.
Cloned embryos could provide a substantial source of embryonic stem cells, which show great promise in treating a variety of diseases from diabetes to Parkinson鈥檚. However, removing the stem cells destroys the embryo, which opponents find morally abhorrent.
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The bill was introduced by Representative Dave Weldon, a Florida Republican. An alternative, less-restrictive bill sponsored by James Greenwood, a Pennsylvania Republican would have banned reproductive cloning but permitted cloning for research and therapeutic purposes.
The final vote was 265 to 162, with 63 Democrats and 2 Independents adding their yes votes to those of 200 Republicans.
Loud voice
鈥淚 think the House spoke very, very loudly today that this is morally and ethically inappropriate,鈥� Representative Weldon told the New York Times. Right-to-life groups were quick to praise the outcome.
Representative Greenwood condemned the decision as evidence of 鈥渇lat-earth kind of thinking鈥�. Representative Henry Waxman, a California Democrat who backed Greenwood鈥檚 bill told the Times: 鈥淧eople see a difference between the idea of stem cell research and cloning. I think members haven鈥檛 looked at all the nuances.鈥�
President Bush, who is deliberating whether to permit the use of federal funds for embryonic stem cell research, praised the House vote. 鈥淭oday鈥檚 overwhelming and bipartisan House action to prohibit human cloning is a strong ethical statement, which I commend. We must advance the promise and cause of science, but must do so in a way that honours and respects life,鈥� he said in a statement.
Tuesday was the first time the US Congress had voted on human cloning. In 1998, the Senate considered a Republican-backed measure to ban cloning, but Democrats prevented it from ever reaching a vote. For the Greenwood bill to become law, it would have to pass a vote in the Senate, where the Democrats have a one-vote advantage.
British law permits therapeutic, but not reproductive cloning of human embryos.