[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 658 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 658

   To amend the Public Health Service Act to prohibit human cloning.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 17, 2005

Mr. Brownback (for himself, Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Allard, Mr. Bunning, Mr. 
Burr, Mr. Chambliss, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Craig, Mr. Crapo, Mr. DeMint, Mr. 
DeWine, Mrs. Dole, Mr. Domenici, Mr. Ensign, Mr. Graham, Mr. Grassley, 
   Mr. Hagel, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Kyl, Mr. Martinez, Ms. Murkowski, Mr. 
Santorum, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Shelby, Mr. Thomas, Mr. Thune, Mr. Vitter, 
Mr. Voinovich, and Mr. Talent) introduced the following bill; which was 
 read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 
                              and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Public Health Service Act to prohibit human cloning.

    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 
2005''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON HUMAN CLONING.

    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. 498D. PROHIBITION ON HUMAN CLONING.

    ``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Human cloning.--The term `human cloning' means human 
        asexual reproduction, accomplished by introducing nuclear 
        material from one or more human somatic cells into a fertilized 
        or unfertilized oocyte whose nuclear material has been removed 
        or inactivated so as to produce a living organism (at any stage 
        of development) that is genetically virtually identical to an 
        existing or previously existing human organism.
            ``(2) Asexual reproduction.--The term `asexual 
        reproduction' means reproduction not initiated by the union of 
        oocyte and sperm.
            ``(3) Somatic cell.--The term `somatic cell' means a 
        diploid cell (having a complete set of chromosomes) obtained or 
        derived from a living or deceased human body at any stage of 
        development.
    ``(b) Prohibition.--It shall be unlawful for any person or entity, 
public or private, in or affecting interstate commerce, knowingly--
            ``(1) to perform or attempt to perform human cloning;
            ``(2) to participate in an attempt to perform human 
        cloning; or
            ``(3) to ship or receive for any purpose an embryo produced 
        by human cloning or any product derived from such embryo.
    ``(c) Importation.--It shall be unlawful for any person or entity, 
public or private, knowingly to import for any purpose an embryo 
produced by human cloning.
    ``(d) Penalties.--
            ``(1) Criminal penalty.--Any person or entity that violates 
        this section shall be fined or imprisoned for not more than 10 
        years, or both.
            ``(2) Civil penalty.--Any person or entity that violates 
        any provision of this section shall be subject to, in the case 
        of a violation that involves the derivation of a pecuniary 
        gain, a civil penalty of not less than $1,000,000 and not more 
        than an amount equal to the amount of the gross gain multiplied 
        by 2, if that amount is greater than $1,000,000.
    ``(e) Scientific Research.--Nothing in this section restricts areas 
of scientific research not specifically prohibited by this section, 
including research in the use of nuclear transfer or other cloning 
techniques to produce molecules, DNA, cells other than human embryos, 
tissues, organs, plants, or animals other than humans.''.

SEC. 3. STUDY BY GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE.

    (a) In General.--The Government Accountability Office shall conduct 
a study to assess the need for amendment of the prohibition on human 
cloning, as defined in section 498D(a) of the Public Health Service 
Act, as added by section 2, which study should include--
            (1) a discussion of new developments in medical technology 
        concerning human cloning and somatic cell nuclear transfer, the 
        need (if any) for somatic cell nuclear transfer to produce 
        medical advances, current public attitudes and prevailing 
        ethical views concerning the use of somatic cell nuclear 
        transfer, and potential legal implications of research in 
        somatic cell nuclear transfer; and
            (2) a review of any technological developments that may 
        require that technical changes be made to section 498D of the 
        Public Health Service Act.
    (b) Report.--The Government Accountability Office shall transmit to 
Congress, not later than 4 years after the date of enactment of this 
Act, a report containing the findings and conclusions of its study, 
together with recommendations for any legislation or administrative 
actions which it considers appropriate.
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