November 30, 2001

Senate Revisits Human Cloning Debate

The debate over human cloning once again came to the Senate's attention following a media announcement that Advanced Cell Technology had successfully cloned a human embryo. In response, Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), an avid opponent of all human cloning research, attempted to force a Senate floor vote on legislation (H.R. 2505) that passed the House in July and would ban both reproductive and therapeutic cloning research. Senator Brownback's efforts were defeated on procedural grounds; however, he did not rule out trying to attach such provisions to other major legislation. Earlier this month, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) negotiated a compromise between Senators Brownback and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), providing for a debate and vote on each of their proposals early next year in return for dropping the issues till that time [see Washington Highlights, Nov. 2]. Senator Specter's legislation would expand the President's authority to approve federal funding of stem-cell research.

The AAMC responded to Senator Brownback's efforts with a letter to Senators Daschle, Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), and Harry Reid (D-Nev.) outlining both the Association's opposition to human reproductive cloning and the important medical applications of therapeutic cloning. In the Nov. 27 letter, AAMC President Jordan Cohen, M.D., said "The Association strongly opposes human reproductive cloning…. We will never see the fulfillment of any of these promising areas [of research] if we choose to take the perilous path of legislatively banning outright research on therapeutic cloning."

Information: Dave Moore or Jonathan Fishburn, AAMC Office of Governmental Relations, 202-828-0525.