Bill to Ban Human Cloning Stalled in Senate

A Senate bill to ban human cloning was put on indefinite hold Wednesday when lawmakers from both parties expressed concerns that it could slow scientific research.

Despite overwhelming opposition to the idea of human cloning, supporters of the bill, promoted by the Republican leadership, could muster only 42 votes for a motion to bring the legislation to the Senate floor, well short of the 60 needed. Twelve Republicans joined all 42 voting Democrats in keeping the bill off the floor.

Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), for instance, said his daughter had diabetes, and “I am concerned that this bill may be written so broadly that it will restrict future promising research which could lead to improved treatment.”

The main sponsors of the legislation stressed that it would not impede existing scientific research in in vitro fertilization, stem cells, transplantation or animal cloning.

What it would do is permanently ban a procedure known as somatic cell nuclear transfer, the same procedure used to clone the Scottish sheep Dolly, when it is used to clone a human embryo.

Such cloning, said Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.), could “allow the creation of masses of human embryos as if they were assembly line products, not human life.”