[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 34 (Tuesday, March 4, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E351]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 HUMAN CLONING PROHIBITION ACT OF 2003

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                               speech of

                           HON. CHET EDWARDS

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 27, 2003

  Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. Speaker, on February 27, 2003, Congress passed H.R. 
534 that would ban human cloning. I oppose human cloning, but it 
appears that I inadvertently voted against the legislation banning such 
cloning when my intention was to support the ban. Last year, I voted 
for a bill to prohibit cloning and my position has not changed.
  I support a prohibition on human cloning. Our society has not even 
begun to evaluate the moral, ethical and medical implications of petri 
dish factory lines creating genetically identical humans. There is 
something sacred about the fact that every human being is unique. I 
cannot support the technology that would ultimately allow people to 
create exact genetic duplicates of themselves, because I believe that 
once the technology is available, it would just be a matter of time 
before someone succumbed to the temptation of, in effect, trying to 
recreate himself.
  We can continue to make enormous progress in medical research without 
opening the Pandora's box of creating embryos and babies with the 
identical genetic makeup of other human beings. A human cloning ban 
will not prohibit stem cell research, which holds the promise of 
solving major diseases such as Alzheimer's without artificially 
creating exact genetic duplicates of other humans.
  Just because researchers can do something does not mean society 
should allow it. Researchers can create biological and chemical weapons 
in laboratories, but civilized society has agreed that it is best to 
prohibit such activities. The profound implications of creating human 
genetic duplicates, in my opinion, warrant a prohibition on such 
technology.

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