UGHHHH!!!! THIS MAKES ME SO ANGRY!!!! What can we do to prevent them from passing this unbelieveably BACKWARDS bill??? To me, it just goes to show how very uneducated our politicians are on the benefits of scientific work that could benefit millions of people. OK, what is going to happen if the Raelians actually do manage to make some viable clones? Will this change anything? Will it make our government realize that there is a need for this to happen? It's like they are trying to put the emergency brakes on a train that will not stop. OK so the USA doesn't do cloning now.. what happens to us when the rest of the world starts to (OHH BOY if China was doing it now??? LOL)? Sounds like we would have a lot to catch up with. The scientific community should be outraged by this bill. That's progress???
My jokes grow stale... Onward!
Brian
extropians@extropy.org wrote:
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2001 14:30:16 PDT
> From: AFP <C-afp@clari.net>
> Subject: US lawmakers introduce bill to ban all forms of human cloning
>
>
> WASHINGTON, April 26 (AFP) - US lawmakers on Thursday introduced
> a bill to ban all forms of human cloning including "therapeutic
> cloning" used in embryonic stem cell research.
> The Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2001 goes one step further
> than legislation introduced earlier this month by a senator that
> would ban "reproductive cloning," or allowing the birth of a cloned
> human.
> "Efforts to create human beings by cloning mark a new and
> decisive step toward turning human reproduction into a manufacturing
> process," said Kansas Senator Sam Brownback in introducing the
> measure.
> As for cloning to develop stem cells, Brownback said the
> prospect of "creating new human life solely to be exploited and
> destroyed in this way has been condemned on moral grounds by many as
> displaying a profound disrespect for human life."
> The bill, backed by Representative Dave Weldon of Florida, would
> make human cloning a federal criminal offense punishable by up to 10
> years imprisonment and a fine of not less than one million dollars.
> The measure would include a ban on the importation of cloned
> products.
> Both lawmakers argued that stem research could continue using
> stem cells from adult tissues, placentas and so on.
> "Other scientific research, using cloning techniques to produce
> molecules, DNA, cells other than human embryos, tissues, organs,
> plants, or animals other than humans, is explicitly permitted,"
> explained a fact sheet on the bill produced by the National
> Conference of Catholic Bishops.
> Weldon and Brownback said they felt the bill had a good chance
> of passing both the House and Senate, pointing out that a recent
> Time/CNN poll showed 90 percent of Americans said it was "a bad
> idea" to clone human beings.
> If approved, the bill would then go to President George W. Bush,
> who has come out against human cloning, to be signed into law.
> On April 5, Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell introduced a bill
> that would ban human cloning and urged members the House of
> Representatives to follow suit.
> His proposal would ban all attempts to clone a human being
> regardless of whether this effort is financed with government or
> private funds.
> In 1997, the administration of former president Bill Clinton
> declared a five-year moratorium on human cloning financed by
> government funds, but at the moment, nothing prevents a
> privately-financed experiment.
> Previous attempts to pass legislation banning human cloning have
> been unsuccessful.
> Proponents of human cloning include Panos Zavos, a naturalized
> American and former professor of reproductive psychology at the
> University of Kentucky who is a member of a private consortium
> working on human cloning.
> In addition, Clonaid, a firm founded by the Raelians, a
> religious sect, has announced plans to clone a 10-month-old dead
> baby.
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