On January 24, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education held a hearing to discuss human cloning. Subcommittee Chair Tom Harkin (D-IA) noted the importance of the hearing, saying, “All sides must be considered.” Sen. Harkin added that while a ban should be placed on human cloning, the “life-saving, medical research” resulting from human embryonic cloning should continue to move forward to “unlock the mysteries” of life-threatening diseases and debilitating disorders.
Ranking Member Arlen Specter (R-PA) agreed adding that, “This subcommittee has helped increase funding for the NIH from $12-23 billion” so that further research can be conducted to allow the medical field to advance.
Sen. Harkin announced that he was introducing legislation that would ban reproductive cloning while allowing therapeutic cloning to continue. A number of legislative proposals dealing with human cloning have been introduced during the 107th Congress. On July 31, 2001, the House passed a bill (H.R. 2505) to ban all forms of cloning; the Senate has not considered similar legislation.
Although all of the witnesses opposed human cloning, they were divided on whether cloning technology should be used for therapeutic purposes to advance science.
Testifying on behalf of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), Dr. Irving L. Weisman detailed the Academy’s recent report, Scientific and Medical Aspects of Human Reproductive Cloning. The report concluded that reproductive cloning should not be practiced and recommended that a “legally enforceable ban on the practice of human reproductive cloning” be implemented. However, the report recommended that because of its “considerable potential for developing new medical therapies for life-threatening diseases and advancing fundamental knowledge,” therapeutic cloning should be permitted.
Dr. Rudolf Jaenisch of the Whitehead Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said that the most important part of therapeutic cloning is that the embryo “has the identical combination of genes as the donor, and therefore, does not represent the creation of a unique new life.” He added that the embryonic stem cells from cloned blastocysts would “pose fewer ethical problems than the generation of embryonic stem cells from in vitro fertilization.”
Dr. Brent Blackwelder of Friends of the Earth advocated for a ban on human cloning and a moratorium on therapeutic cloning. He said, “Cloning crosses the threshold of the individuality of species,” but added that it was “wrong to say that those against cloning are against medical research and advancement.”
Agreeing with Dr. Blackwelder, Dr. Maria Michejda of the Georgetown University Medical Center said, “The technologies for safe and efficient cloning do not exist.” She said that if cloning research continues, “one should also take into account the possible legal consequences of professional responsibility and malpractice when something goes wrong.”
In closing the hearing, Sen. Harkin stressed that the options for human embryonic stem cell research must be kept opened, “because we don’t know which will prove the most beneficial.”
