The Australian Senate passed a bill last week banning all forms of human cloning, including the cloning of embryos to obtain stem cells for medical research (therapeutic cloning). The vote took place following an amendment that bans the import and export of any cloned embryos, or cells derived from them. This ban is to be reviewed after 12 months, and the law banning all cloning will be reviewed three years after it comes into effect.
The Senate is also expected to vote soon on a separate bill that would permit embryo stem cell research on existing frozen embryos, of which there are estimated to be 60-70,000. After April 2005, scientists will be allowed to extract stem cells from fresh embryos left over from fertility treatment, although new regulations will ban the creation of embryos solely for research purposes. Both the cloning and embryo stem cell research bills were passed by Australia's lower house in September.
Meanwhile, in the US, a bill banning all forms of human cloning is to be reintroduced to the Senate early next year. According to supporters of Senator Sam Brownback's bill, it has a greater chance of being passed now that several senators who favoured a competing bill - one that would ban reproductive cloning but allow therapeutic cloning - were defeated in the recent elections. Actress Mary Tyler Moore became the latest in a line of high profile advocates of therapeutic cloning last week, when she called upon the US government to fund embryo stem cell research for diabetes and other diseases.
Sources and References
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Australia to give green light to embryo research
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Brownback to reintroduce total cloning ban in Senate next year
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Cloning of humans banned
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Embryonic research opponents say scientists driven by commercial gain
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