[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 33 (Thursday, March 17, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S3011]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By 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):
  S. 658. A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to prohibit 
human cloning; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
Pensions.
  Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I rise to speak on the Brownback-
Landrieu Human Cloning Prohibition Act, which we introduce today.
  The Brownback-Landrieu Human Cloning Prohibition Act remains the only 
effective ban on human cloning.
  This legislation has passed the U.S. House of Representatives twice 
by large margins. This bill would also bring the U.S. into conformity 
with the recent vote at the United Nations, where the General Assembly 
called on all member states ``to prohibit all forms of human cloning'' 
by a strong 84 to 34 margin.
  President Bush has also spoken eloquently on the Brownback-Landrieu 
Human Cloning Prohibition Act, when he ``wholeheartedly'' endorsed the 
legislation.
  The President said: ``Human cloning is deeply troubling to me, and to 
most Americans. Life is a creation, not a commodity.
  ``Our children are gifts to be loved and protected, not products to 
be designed and manufactured. Allowing cloning would be taking a 
significant step toward a society in which human beings are grown for 
spare body parts, and children are engineered to custom specifications; 
and that's not acceptable. . . .
  ``I strongly support a comprehensive law against all human cloning. 
And I endorse the bill wholeheartedly endorse the bill--sponsored by 
Senator Brownback and Senator Mary Landrieu.''
  The President could hardly have been clearer.
  We should take a stand against those that would turn young human 
beings into commodities and spare parts. We should not use human life 
for research purposes.
  The legislation introduced by Sen. Landrieu and myself, along with 
over one quarter of the Senate, answers that human life should not be 
used for research purposes.
  Let there be no doubt. Science affirms that the young human, at his 
or her earliest moments of life, is a human. It is wrong to treat 
another person as a piece of property that can be bought and sold, 
created and destroyed, all at the will of those in power.
  The issue of human cloning--and specifically how we treat the young 
human--will determine the kind of future we will give to our children 
and grandchildren.
  The essential question is whether or not we will allow human beings 
to be produced, to preordained specifications, for their eventual 
implantation or destruction, depending upon the intentions of the 
technicians who created them.
  Will we create life simply to destroy it?
  I firmly believe that human life should be cherished and that human 
dignity should be protected.
  I also firmly believe that ethically-sound research should proceed in 
the search for cures. The legislation that we introduce today takes a 
very thoughtful approach and is careful not to ban or interfere with 
gene therapy, IVF practices, or DNA, cell or tissue cloning--other than 
with cloned embryos.
  Now, some of our colleagues will tell you that they oppose 
`reproductive cloning,' but then turn around and call for `therapeutic 
cloning' or `SCNT.' Whether intentional or not, to argue that there are 
different types of human cloning creates a distinction that simply does 
not exist.
  All human cloning is `reproductive.' The question is simply: What do 
you do with the young, cloned human? Do you implant it and bring it to 
birth--like the sheep Dolly--or do you research on and kill the young 
human being, as advocates of so-called `therapeutic' cloning would have 
us do?
  Any other so-called human cloning bans, outside of the Brownback-
Landrieu Human Cloning Prohibition Act, are not enforceable. Once the 
young human has been cloned, you cannot distinguish it from any other 
human embryo produced by IVF or embodied sexual intercourse.
  If so-called `therapeutic' human cloning proceeds--and there are no 
laws in the U.S. against it--one of these human clones will be 
implanted, and there is nothing we can do to stop human cloning once we 
reach this point.
  Even if we detected a clonal human pregnancy, nothing could be done 
about it. Any remedies or punishments would be highly unpopular and 
unenforceable.
  As I have already stated, over a quarter of all U.S. Senators have 
agreed to be original cosponsors of this bill, and it is our intention 
to press for a clean vote in the Senate during the 109th Congress.
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