US stem cell state legislation news

The Delaware Senate has approved a bill (called SB 80) that would prohibit human cloning for reproductive purposes but allow cloning for research purposes. Senators approved the bill, sponsored by State Senator Robert Venables, by 14-7 last Tuesday. The bill will allow human embryonic stem cell (ES) research to take place in the state, using embryos left over from fertility treatments and donated for research by the patients, who must give written consent. The bill will now pass to the state House, where its sponsors hope it will come to a vote before the Legislature adjourns on June 30.

Meanwhile, in the state of Wisconsin, a bill to ban all forms of human cloning - and therefore ES cell research - has been proposed. Anyone who contravened the law, if passed, could face up to ten years in prison and up to a $1 million fine. The bill also proposes that parthenogenesis, a process in which a female egg cell is stimulated to divide without fertilising it, should be banned. The state's Senate Judiciary, Corrections and Privacy Committee and the Assembly Committee on Children and Families will have the first hearing on the bill this week. Researchers say that the bill would 'handcuff' their work in the state.

In Louisiana, a similar bill banning all forms of human cloning has failed to come to the Senate floor, which means it is unlikely to come to a vote this session. Senators voted 19-18 in favour of forcing the bill out of committee last Tuesday, falling one vote short of the 20 vote majority required. The bill, called HB 492, was approved by the state House last month but was tabled last week by the state Senate Judiciary B Committee.

In May, the Louisiana House of Representatives voted 75-23 in favour of the bill, while also defeating a competing bill by 54-45 votes. The competing bill would have banned human reproductive cloning only, allowing embryos to be cloned for medical research purposes, including human ES cell research. Both bills provided the same penalties for a breach of the law - a fine of up to $10 million and ten years in prison for anyone attempting reproductive cloning. The defeated bill would have created a commission that would have kept all ES cell research projects under review and produced an annual report.