Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy

Friday, February 13, 2004

National Politics & Policy
    Lawmakers Call for U.S. Human Cloning Ban Following South Korean Extraction of Stem Cells from Cloned Embryo

      Some U.S. lawmakers have called for a ban on human cloning following the release of a study in which South Korean researchers extracted stem cells from a cloned human embryo, the Washington Times reports (Howard Price, Washington Times, 2/13). In the study, which was published on Friday in the journal Science, researchers administered hormones to and harvested eggs from 16 women. Researchers removed the central packet of DNA from each egg cell and replaced it with the DNA of the egg donor. Researchers varied the timing of when they added the DNA to the egg and when they activated the egg to begin cell division. As a result, 26% of the embryos developed to the blastocyst stage, yielding a total of 30 blastocysts. From the blastocysts, the researchers extracted 20 inner cell masses, one of which grew into a stem cell line. Embryonic stem cells have the potential to grow into any of the body's 220 cell types, and some researchers believe that stem cells could be used to replace damaged or defective cells or to treat illnesses, such as Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injuries. Obtaining stem cells from cloned embryos is considered important because patients conceivably could receive tissue that is genetically identical to their own, thereby reducing the risk that their immune systems would reject the tissue (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 2/12). However, lawmakers on both sides of the issue have said that the news is "unlikely ... to break an impasse" that has blocked action on a human cloning ban in the House and Senate since 2002 (Rovner, CongressDaily, 2/13).

Total Ban?
Two competing measures -- one that would ban all human cloning and another that would allow cloning for research purposes -- "remai[n] deadlocked" in the Senate, USA Today reports (Welch, USA Today, 2/13). Sens. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.) last year introduced a bill (S 245) that would ban human cloning for both reproductive and research purposes. A similar bill, which was introduced in the House last year by Reps. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.) and Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), would impose fines of up to $1 million as well as jail time for any person who attempts to clone humans for any purpose (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 1/8). Brownback said that the South Korean research "underscore[s] the need for a comprehensive national and international ban on all human cloning" (Spotts, Christian Science Monitor, 2/13). Brownback also said that all forms of human cloning are "morally wrong," adding, "It treats the youngest of humans as mere property." Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who sponsored a measure that would allow cloning for research purposes, said that Congress should "set ethical standards that the world will follow," adding, "If the U.S. doesn't take a strong role in setting the standards for ethical research in this area, then we will lose real hope of controlling the process" (USA Today, 2/13). Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) said that there should be legislation that would prohibit reproductive cloning, but allow "lifesaving stem cell research to proceed under strict ethical guidelines." Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) said, "Cloning human beings is wrong. It is unethical to tinker with human life," adding that a ban should be approved before "this unethical science comes to our shores" (Recer, AP/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 2/13).

U.S. Role in Research
Some U.S. researchers are concerned because "momentum" in stem cell and cloning research has "shift[ed] to other countries with rules that are more clearly defined and more financial support from their governments," the Boston Globe reports (Cook/Allen, Boston Globe, 2/13). President Bush on Aug. 9, 2001, announced a policy limiting federally funded stem cell research to embryonic stem cell lines created on or before that date. The policy allows federal funding for experiments involving stem cells already derived from embryos but not for research that would cause the destruction of additional embryos (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 2/12). There has already been "important work" in stem cell research -- considered by some scientists to be "one of the most promising and challenging fields in science"-- in Britain, Israel, Singapore and China, which have less stringent funding policies than the United States, according to the Globe (Boston Globe, 2/13). In the United States, most stem cell research is being done at a "few" universities, including Stanford University, Harvard University and the University of California-San Francisco, which have privately funded programs. Also, private foundations, including the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, support the programs (Elias, AP/Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, 2/13). Dr. Irving Weissman, head of Stanford's stem cell research institute, said, "The cost is that the best and the brightest will not be able to do this research. You are going to start picking up Nature and Science and all the great (research) journals, and you are going to read about how South Koreans and Chinese and Singaporeans are making advances that the rest of us can't even study." But Dr. James Battey, chair of the NIH committee that oversees stem cell research funding, said, "We need to step back and look at the whole area of regenerative medicine. Right now, most of what needs to be done is at the very basic stages, and American scientists are in as good a position as any in the world to approach those basic science questions" (Boston Globe, 2/13). He added that NIH "would be happy to spend more" money on stem cell research, but no federal funding is available for cloning research using human embryos, according to the AP/Sun-Sentinel. "The administration has stated very clearly it is opposed to therapeutic cloning. As part of the administration, that prohibits us from supporting that research," Battey said (AP/Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, 2/13).

Other News Coverage
The following newspaper articles discussed various aspects and implications of the South Korean scientists' work:

  • Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The Journal-Constitution reports that the South Korean researchers who conducted the study are opposed to human reproductive cloning (Wahlberg, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2/13).

  • BBC News: BBC News reports that the researchers conducting the study have called for an international ban on reproductive cloning, although methods used in their research could be used for both cloning for research purposes and reproductive cloning (BBC News, 2/13).

  • Boston Globe: The Globe examines the ethical debate on human cloning (Allen/Cook, Boston Globe, 2/13).

  • Los Angeles Times: The Times reports that although the recent study is a "milestone" in stem cell research, the "medical promise of such endeavors still lies years in the future" (Mestel, Los Angeles Times, 2/13).

  • New York Times: The Times examines the debate between those supporting a total ban on cloning and those favoring a ban only on reproductive cloning (Goodstein/Grady, New York Times, 2/13).

  • New York Times: The Times looks at the South Korean researchers who conducted the study (Len, New York Times, 2/13).

  • New York Times: The Times examines the medical and ethical questions raised by the study method and findings (Pollack, New York Times, 2/13).

  • Wall Street Journal: The Journal looks at the renewed call for a cloning ban (Regalado, Wall Street Journal, 2/13).

  • Washington Post: The Post examines the concern that the publication of the researchers "detailed techniques might facilitate the creation" of human clones by others (Weiss, Washington Post, 2/13).

Broadcast Coverage
The following broadcast programs reported on the ethical and political implications of the South Korean scientists' work: