Competing cloning bill introduced in US Senate

Following last week's news that supporters of a ban on all forms of human cloning had re-introduced legislation to the US Senate, Senators Orrin Hatch, Diane Feinstein, Arlen Specter, Edward Kennedy and Tom Harkin have this week introduced competing legislation.

The Human Cloning Ban and Stem Cell Research Protection Act 2003 would allow the creation of cloned human embryos for the derivation of stem cells to be used in medical research, but would ban human reproductive cloning.

Under the proposed new legislation, creating a child by cloning would become a crime punishable by up to ten years in prison and fines of either $1 million or three times any profit that is made, whichever is the greater sum. But, said Hatch, 'in our attempt to ban reproductive cloning, we should not close the door on a form of scientific research - nuclear transplantation - that has the potential of curing millions of debilitating and life threatening diseases'.

The bill would allow therapeutic cloning and stem cell research to proceed with Federal support. It contains a number of ethics provisions designed to protect egg donors and provides that all nuclear transplantation research would take place in laboratories completely separate from infertility treatment centres. Civil fines of up to $250,000 could be imposed for violation of any of the ethical provisions.

The American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) welcomed the new bill, saying 'it is essential that we pass legislation that will allow this exciting research to proceed and to ensure that it is subject to appropriate legal and ethical oversight... The potential to expand our knowledge and find cures for so many now-incurable diseases is too important to abandon. We thank the Senators for their vision and leadership to allow this work to continue'.