[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 166 (Tuesday, December 4, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2194]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     CONDEMNATION OF HUMAN CLONING

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BOB SCHAFFER

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 4, 2001

  Mr. SCHAFFER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express in the most 
serious terms my opposition to the recent acts of Advanced Cell 
Technology in Massachusetts to create the first cloned human embryo. 
Most scientific discoveries are a step forward for human kind, but 
ACT's announcement over the Thanksgiving holiday does not pose such 
promise. Instead, it signifies a sick and perverted experiment that 
will result in the destruction of hundreds of lives and the devaluing 
of all human life.
  We all remember Dolly the sheep, the first cloned animal in the 
world. Well, Mr. Speaker, Dolly was the result of 277 attempts at 
creating a cloned sheep. Sheep numbers 1-276 didn't make it. They all 
died in different stages of development and were discarded. Do we want 
to allow such experimentation to be conducted on the human race? If we 
allow such a mad science to occur, we will be permitting the same kind 
of immoral practices as the human eugenics experiments in Nazi Germany.
  Mr. Speaker, Congress must act now to ban human cloning before 
America becomes host to another holocaust. In July of this year, our 
colleagues in House acted in a timely and responsible manner to pass 
legislation banning human cloning. The bill passed in a bipartisan 
manner by more than 100 votes.
  Since that time, Majority Leader of the opposing house has 
demonstrated an utter disregard for human life by preventing the bill 
from going forward at the other end of the Capitol. I now urge the 
majority leader of the other body to follow this House, the President 
and the will of the American people to bring H.R. 2505 to an immediate 
vote. The time is short as groups like ACT are pushing forward to 
create the first cloned human being. We must stop these crimes against 
humanity before it is too late.

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