[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 23149]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



             AGAINST CLONING: DESIGNING DISCARDABLE DONORS

  (Mr. STEARNS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, last Sunday, we heard the news that a 
Massachusetts biotechnology firm had turned a revolutionary scientific 
corner. Delicately transferring human DNA into a donated human female 
egg, they then artificially nurtured the egg into a 6-cell embryo. The 
embryo then went off about its business, dividing as if fertilized by a 
sperm, but stopped far short of maturing into a baby.
  Their objective in creating this being? To harvest its stem cells to 
be crafted into potential replacement tissues for patients suffering 
from various degenerative diseases. Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. 
positions the product of their research as ``only cellular life, not 
human life.'' Still, building a life, whether you call it a ``cellular 
life'' or a ``human life'' to serve as a discardable donor is not moral 
science.
  The House passed H.R. 2505, a human cloning prohibition in July, and 
I urge our colleagues in the Senate to expeditiously pass legislation 
banning such destructive research.

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