A US Senate panel has been told that Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), the Massachusetts biotechnology firm which recently announced that it had cloned a human embryo, might be in a position to extract stem cells from cloned embryos within six months.
Michael West, president of ACT, said that this would be a big step towards cures for a number of human diseases. He urged senators not to impose even a temporary ban on cloning for research purposes. 'I would argue rather than slow medical research, we take the time to carefully learn these issues', he said, referring to the distinction between reproductive cloning and the processes ACT is involved with.
Meanwhile, after the failure of a Senate bill for a six month US moratorium on all forms of cloning last week, another bill was introduced by Democrat Dianne Feinstein which would ban human reproductive cloning only. The bill for the 'Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2001' was co-sponsored by a number of other Democrat senators, including Hillary Clinton. It provides that any attempts to implant a cloned embryo into a womb would result in a $1 million fine.
There are also plans to introduce another cloning bill which would also have the effect of banning reproductive cloning in the US. Senator Tom Harkin (Democrat) intends the 'The Human Cloning Ban and Stem Cell Research Protection Act of 2001' to be introduced this week. Although it is unclear exactly how this differs from Feinstein's bill, it may be more permissive towards research. Senator Harkin said 'I believe it would be tragic to allow our outrage about human cloning to blind us to the promise that the research holds'.
Sources and References
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Cloning executive presses Senate
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Researcher seeks cloning approval
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Resignations and recriminations over cloning claim
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