House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, has blamed Senate Democrats for stalling a vote on a House-passed measure that would ban human cloning, following news that an American company has successfully cloned the first human embryo.
“Since July 31st, when the House passed a comprehensive ban on cloning, we have all waited patiently while the Senate Democratic leadership refused to act,” Armey said in a statement yesterday.
“Yesterday’s disturbing news about the cloning of humans at the embryonic stage of life should set off a four-alarm wake-up call in the U.S. Senate,” said Armey. “Let’s be clear. We are in a race to prevent amoral, scientifically suspect tinkering with the miracle and sanctity of life. It’s time for the Senate to put the deal-making aside and join the House in banning human cloning – before it’s too late.”
The House voted 265-165 on a measure that would outlaw all forms of human cloning, including embryos. The Senate is scheduled to take up the issue in February or March, but supporters of the House measure are pushing for a vote sooner than that in light of the announcement Sunday by scientists at Advanced Cell Technology Inc. in Worcester, Mass.
“Our intention is not to create cloned human beings, but rather to make lifesaving therapies for a wide range of human disease conditions, including diabetes, strokes, cancer, AIDS, and neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease,” said Robert Lanza, vice president of medical and scientific development at ACT.
Michael West, chief executive officer of ACT, said, “The entities we are creating are not individuals. They’re only cellular life; they’re not human life,” according to a report in the London Telegraph.
“We’ve taken the first step toward what we hope will be a whole new era of medicine. It’s been called regenerative medicine. The idea is to be able to give replacement cells and tissues, like the way we repair a car when it’s broken,” added Michael West, a biologist and president of the firm, on CNN’s “Late Edition” Sunday night.
Scientists believe embryonic stem cells are a kind of “master cell” that can transform into any cell in the body. But, as WorldNetDaily reported earlier this month, there is a growing body of evidence suggesting that adult stem cells, which can be harvested from living adults, work equally well.
“For certain diseases, adult cells appear very promising, for hepatic and cardiac diseases in particular,” Ronald McKay, a researcher at the National Institutes of Health, told Technology Review magazine, published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, this month.
Though he believes “a solution to Parkinson’s disease or diabetes” lies in embryonic stem cells, there is currently little proof to substantiate such claims. And because of the origin of embryonic stem cells, pressure from religious groups, pro-life advocates and lawmakers has slowed funding and research opportunities for such cell lines.
Opponents to the Advanced Cell Technology discovery were quick to voice it yesterday.
“Sunday’s announcement that scientists have cloned human embryos is met with disdain and condemnation,” said Gayle Atteberry, executive director for Oregon Right to Life in a statement.
“Creating human beings for the sole purpose of experimentation and then their destruction has twisted the true meaning of science to the macabre,” she said. “Treating humans as a commodity to be used supposedly for ‘personal and societal good,’ is reminiscent of the days when human beings were sold on the block to be used as slaves. Each human life, no matter the size, age or race, is unique, valuable and deserving of respect.”
The group has also called on the Senate to pass the House’s measure banning the procedure.
Also on Monday, President Bush called cloning “morally wrong,” adding: “We should not, as a society, grow life to destroy it.”
The ACT breakthrough amounts to “the conundrum of scientific progress, where progress can also be measured in terms of how many lives will be taken to save a life,” said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, reiterating the administration’s opposition to cloning.
“That’s something the president has drawn a strong ethical line in the sand on and said that line should not be crossed,” he said.
In August, Bush announced a decision to allow limited federal research funding on the 60-odd existing lines of stem cells.
“I think there is an answer there that we are working on that is going to allow research to continue with some moderations, but one that will be hopefully satisfactory to the various views that are very polarized at this point,” Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson told reporters last month.
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WND Staff