|
 rohibiting
human cloning is being debated not only in the United States but
across the world, as I've seen firsthand after spending a week in
Europe discussing the issues of cloning and stem cells. Recently,
the British government received a shock when a lawsuit brought by
Bruno Quintavalle of the Pro-Life Alliance exposed the fact that
a British law did not really regulate human cloning. Immediately
cloning entrepreneur Dr. Severino Antinori proposed setting up a
laboratory in Britain for the purpose of producing cloned babies
for infertile couples.
The British
government has rushed to try to cover this deficit, introducing
a one-line bill in the House of Lords to prohibit implantation of
a cloned embryo into a woman. But this haste has produced an inadequate
fig leaf — numerous legal flaws exist in the bill, and the
lack of deliberation has angered many in the British parliament.
The end result will be more egg on the face of the British government.
In the meantime
the European parliament, after lengthy debate, has approved language
which would enact a total ban on human cloning, as well as banning
the creation of human embryos for research. Our own Congress has
already spent a great deal of time deliberating the cloning issue;
the House of Representatives managed to pass the Weldon-Stupak bill
this summer, a complete ban on human cloning. The matching bill
in the Senate sponsored by Sen. Sam Brownback, backed by the White
House, has not been brought forward, though there is a promise that
it will be scheduled for debate and a vote this coming spring. The
Senate should move swiftly to pass the ban.
As the British
experience demonstrates, a total ban on human cloning is the only
way to go.
|
