While Senators Hatch and Feinstein want you to believe that they are for banning human cloning, they are actually trying to make sure that human cloning remains legal in the U.S. at the federal level. They have introduced the The Human Cloning Ban and Stem Cell Protection Act of 2007 which says it will ban human cloning while protecting stem cell research.
Hogwash. This act would only ban the implantation of a cloned embryo not the creation of a cloned embryo with somatic cell nuclear transfer, or SCNT, for use in research. SCNT is the process that created Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell. In case you need a refresher on SCNT, see Cloning 101 on MaryMeetsDolly.com.
The cloning debates are heating up again and it is our job to make sure that people are wary of legislation that says it bans human cloning. If it is not a total ban on somatic cell nuclear transfer in humans, then it doesn't "ban human cloning."
Hatch and Feinstein argue that SCNT is the "most promising" stem cell research. I ask where they get their data. Not only has no patient anywhere been treated with stem cells from an embryo created with SCNT, but no one has ever even created a viable human embryo with SCNT.
This piece on the Feinstein-Hatch act almost gave me an anuerism. Let me count the ways:
March 8, 2007 -- Washington, DC - U.S. Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today reintroduced legislation to prohibit the cloning of a human being, while ensuring that promising medical research is allowed to continue.The Human Cloning Ban and Stem Cell Protection Act of 2007 would allow embryonic stem cell research - known as somatic cell nuclear transplantation - to proceed under strict oversight from the federal government. However, the bill would draw a distinct line between this promising research and human reproductive cloning, which it bans outright.
"American scientists have been pioneers in all major branches of medical research," Senator Hatch said. "If we don't act quickly, the United States may lose the opportunity to lead the world with stem cells - and millions will suffer if we hesitate. But with the great power of stem cell research, we must accept the great responsibility to set ethical guidelines and prohibit research that no one wants to see."
Yes, Senator "millions will suffer" if we can't clone human embryos by the millions and destroy them to harvest desirable biological material. Forget all the women who have to be exploited to get eggs for SCNT and the fact that this research hasn't even been accomplished yet. Somehow, I don't buy it.
There is more:
"We must standardize these policies under a common set of ethical guidelines," Senator Feinstein said. "This patchwork of laws will result only in confusion, forbidding some researchers from conducting lifesaving research, while their colleagues in a neighboring state receive state funding to do the same work."Yes, of course we need to make sure every state can clone human embryos for parts even if its citizens hate the idea and don't want to pay for it.
This is my favorite part:
* Make it a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison to clone or attempt to clone a human being, without exception.* Establish fines of $1 million or three times any profits made (whichever is greater) on any person who clones or attempts to clone a human being. This financial penalty is in addition to the 10-year prison term.
* Allow the most promising form of stem cell research (somatic cell nuclear transplantation) to be conducted on a human egg for up to 14 days only, under strict ethical standards and federal regulation. This 14- day requirement is consistent with the standard established in the United Kingdom and recommended by the California Advisory Committee on Human Cloning.
* Allow this stem cell research only to take place on unfertilized eggs.
* Require that nuclear transplantation occur in labs completely separate from labs that engage in vitro fertilization, to prevent a "blurring of the lines" and avoid the risk that eggs used in legitimate and important nuclear transplantation research would then be implanted in a woman.
* Prohibit the export of eggs that have undergone nuclear transplantation to any foreign country that does not ban human cloning. This prohibition is designed to avoid the risk that valuable research in the United States will result in a human clone anywhere in the world.
Let us tear this apart one piece at a time shall we?
1. An cloned human embryo is a "human being." It is a complete human organism, it is alive and therefore has "being" so it is a human being. What else would it be? Whether a cloned human embryo is a "person" worthy of protection is another matter entriely. But any human embryo anywhere is a "human being."
2. SCNT does not create an "egg". It creates an embryo. An egg is a gamete cell, an embryo is an organsim. If researchers only needed an unfertilized egg, then they wouldn't even need to perform SCNT.
3. Again, since when did SCNT in human become the "most promising research"? IT HASN"T EVEN BEEN DONE YET!!!!!!!!!!!
4. I ask why would "eggs" created by SCNT need to separated from IVF clinics? If it is just an egg and not a cloned human embryo then why should we even need such a provision? Maybe because implanting the product of SCNT is reproductive cloning. I will quote President Bush who is dead on when he said, ""Anything other than a total ban on human cloning would be virtually impossible to enforce. Cloned human embryos created for research would be widely available in laboratories and embryo farms. Once cloned embryos were available, implantation would take place. Even the tightest regulations and strict policing would not prevent or detect the birth of cloned babies."
Which brings me to the most telling restriction of all:
5. Why would we need to prevent the "exporting of eggs that have undergone nuclear transplantation" to other countries that have banned human cloning? MAYBE BECAUSE SCNT IN HUMANS IS HUMAN CLONING!
Duh!
One of the sad questions in all of this is how did Orrin Hatch go from being a hero in the pro-life movement to being a champion for the culture of death. This and the fact that others who may have been considered pro-life? in the past and are now coming out for this very clinical cold blooded murder of unborn children is very troubling. What is it that they don't get?
Are you guys kidding? Good! I hope that this bill passes and scientist can start stem cell and cloning research! It's about time that we made it this far, and plenty of lives can be saved - and made- if the right technology is worked on!
Go kill a first born.