[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2439 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2439

 To prohibit human cloning while preserving important areas of medical 
                research, including stem cell research.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 1, 2002

 Mr. Specter (for himself, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Hatch, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. 
Harkin, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Miller, Mr. Corzine, Ms. Mikulski, 
 Mrs. Clinton, and Mr. Thurmond) introduced the following bill; which 
     was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To prohibit human cloning while preserving important areas of medical 
                research, including stem cell research.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 
2002''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Human cloning is unsafe, immoral, and unacceptable.
            (2) Federal legislation should be enacted to prohibit 
        anyone from attempting to conduct human cloning, whether using 
        Federal or non-Federal funds.
            (3) To deter human cloning, any attempt to create a human 
        clone should be a felony subject to severe punishment.
            (4) The National Academies (including the National Academy 
        of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine) and the National 
        Bioethics Advisory Commission recommended that any legislative 
        action undertaken to ban human cloning should be careful not to 
        interfere with important areas of scientific research, such as 
        nuclear transplantation to produce stem cells.
            (5) The National Academies found that there are significant 
        differences between human cloning and nuclear transplantation. 
        Specifically, the Academies determined that, unlike human 
        cloning, the creation of embryonic stem cells by nuclear 
        transplantation does not involve implantation of an embryo in a 
        uterus and thus cannot produce a complete, live-born animal 
        (that is, a ``clone'').
            (6) The National Academies found that scientific and 
        medical considerations that justify a ban on human cloning are 
        not applicable to nuclear transplantation.
            (7) The National Academies concluded that nuclear 
        transplantation has great potential to increase the 
        understanding and potential treatment of various diseases and 
        debilitating disorders, as well as our fundamental biological 
        knowledge. These diseases and disorders include Lou Gehrig's 
        disease, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, spinal-cord 
        injury, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, rheumatoid 
        arthritis, and many others.
            (8) The National Academies determined that nuclear 
        transplantation research could improve our ability to 
        transplant healthy tissue derived from stem cells into patients 
        with damaged or diseased organs. Such research could greatly 
        reduce the likelihood that a person's body would reject that 
        tissue and also help obviate the need for immunosuppressive 
        drugs, which often have severe and potentially life-threatening 
        side effects.
            (9) Based on these expert conclusions and recommendations 
        and other evidence, nuclear transplantation is a valuable area 
        of research that could potentially save millions of lives and 
        relieve the suffering of countless others, and thus should not 
        be banned.
            (10) The National Academies recommended that nuclear 
        transplantation experiments should be subject to close scrutiny 
        under the Federal procedures and rules concerning human-
        subjects research.
            (11) Given the need for additional oversight in this area, 
        strict ethical requirements for human subjects research, 
        including informed consent, safety and privacy protections, and 
        review by an ethics board, should be prescribed for all 
        research involving nuclear transplantation, whether using 
        Federal or non-Federal funds.
            (12)(A) Biomedical research and clinical facilities engage 
        in and affect interstate commerce.
            (B) The services provided by clinical facilities move in 
        interstate commerce.
            (C) Patients travel regularly across State lines in order 
        to access clinical facilities.
            (D) Biomedical research and clinical facilities engage 
        scientists, doctors, and others in an interstate market, and 
        contract for research and purchase medical and other supplies 
        in an interstate market.

SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

    It is the purpose of this Act to prohibit human cloning and to 
protect important areas of medical research, including stem cell 
research.

SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON HUMAN CLONING.

    (a) In General.--Title 18, United States Code, is amended by 
inserting after chapter 15, the following:

               ``CHAPTER 16--PROHIBITION ON HUMAN CLONING

``Sec.
``301. Prohibition on human cloning.
``Sec. 301. Prohibition on human cloning
    ``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Human cloning.--The term `human cloning' means 
        implanting or attempting to implant the product of nuclear 
        transplantation into a uterus or the functional equivalent of a 
        uterus.
            ``(2) Human somatic cell.--The term `human somatic cell' 
        means any human cell other than a haploid germ cell.
            ``(3) Nuclear transplantation.--The term `nuclear 
        transplantation' means transferring the nucleus of a human 
        somatic cell into an oocyte from which the nucleus or all 
        chromosomes have been or will be removed or rendered inert.
            ``(4) Nucleus.--The term `nucleus' means the cell structure 
        that houses the chromosomes.
            ``(5) Oocyte.--The term `oocyte' means the female germ 
        cell, the egg.
    ``(b) Prohibitions on Human Cloning.--It shall be unlawful for any 
person or other legal entity, public or private--
            ``(1) to conduct or attempt to conduct human cloning; or
            ``(2) to ship the product of nuclear transplantation in 
        interstate or foreign commerce for the purpose of human cloning 
        in the United States or elsewhere.
    ``(c) Protection of Research.--Nothing in this section shall be 
construed to restrict practices not expressly prohibited in this 
section.
    ``(d) Penalties.--
            ``(1) Criminal penalties.--Whoever intentionally violates 
        paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (b) shall be fined under 
        this title and imprisoned not more than 10 years.
            ``(2) Civil penalties.--Whoever intentionally violates 
        paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (b) shall be subject to a 
        civil penalty of $1,000,000 or three times the gross pecuniary 
        gain resulting from the violation, whichever is greater.
            ``(3) Forfeiture.--Any property, real or personal, derived 
        from or used to commit a violation or attempted violation of 
        the provisions of subsection (b), or any property traceable to 
        such property, shall be subject to forfeiture to the United 
        States in accordance with the procedures set forth in chapter 
        46 of title 18, United States Code.
    ``(e) Right of Action.--Nothing in this section shall be construed 
to give any individual or person a private right of action.''.
    (b) Ethical Requirements for Nuclear Transplantation Research.--
Part H of title IV of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 289 et 
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 498C. ETHICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR NUCLEAR TRANSPLANTATION RESEARCH, 
              INCLUDING INFORMED CONSENT, INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD 
              REVIEW, AND PROTECTION FOR SAFETY AND PRIVACY.

    ``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Human somatic cell.--The term `human somatic cell' 
        means any human cell other than a haploid germ cell.
            ``(2) Nuclear transplantation.--The term `nuclear 
        transplantation' means transferring the nucleus of a human 
        somatic cell into an oocyte from which the nucleus or all 
        chromosomes have been or will be removed or rendered inert.
            ``(3) Nucleus.--The term `nucleus' means the cell structure 
        that houses the chromosomes.
            ``(4) Oocyte.--The term `oocyte' means the female germ 
        cell, the egg.
    ``(b) Applicability of Federal Ethical Standards to Nuclear 
Transplantation Research.--Research involving nuclear transplantation 
shall be conducted in accordance with subparts A and B of part 46 of 
title 45, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on the date of 
enactment of the Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2002).
    ``(c) Civil Penalties.--Whoever intentionally violates subsection 
(b) shall be subject to a civil penalty in an amount that is 
appropriate for the violation involved, but not more than $250,000.
    ``(d) Enforcement.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services 
shall have the exclusive authority to enforce this section.''.
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