[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 16012]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                 HUMAN CLONING PROHIBITION ACT OF 2001

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                               speech of

                          HON. STENY H. HOYER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 31, 2001

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, this Congress can and should outlaw the 
practice of human cloning. No pressing need exists to allow such 
cloning, and I believe it is appropriate for Congress to make the 
practice illegal.
  However, I cannot support the overbroad approach taken by H.R. 2505. 
This legislation goes beyond banning reproductive cloning to ban 
research in somatic cell nuclear transfer. The result is that the bill 
would cut off scientific developments that are granting new hope to 
millions of Americans who have been told there is no cure. Without the 
use of nuclear transfer, these stem cell developments will likely 
remain in the laboratory and will not be used to help patients.
  If H.R. 2505 were to pass into law in its present form it would be 
difficult, if not impossible, for our nation to benefit from stem cell 
research that is currently ongoing or that would take place in the 
future. This is because the only practical means of developing 
breakthroughs in stem cell research into treatments is through the use 
of somatic cell nuclear transfer. The bill prohibits the importation of 
safe and effective medical treatments, and it would use criminal law to 
interfere with the scientific progress.
  Almost every Member of Congress, including myself, agrees that human 
cloning is unsafe and unethical and should be prohibited. However, I 
believe the manner in which H.R. 2505 is written would extend the 
bill's prohibitions far beyond the goal of banning human cloning and 
would prevent our citizens from benefitting from ongoing or prospective 
scientific discoveries.

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