[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 23151]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                         PROHIBIT HUMAN CLONING

  (Mr. SHIMKUS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration 
of Independence that we hold these truths to be self-evident that all 
men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with 
certain unalienable rights, and among these are life, liberty and the 
pursuit of happiness. That is why we have government. We have 
government to protect these rights, and more importantly, the rights of 
those who are the most innocent and the most vulnerable.
  Mr. Speaker, on July 31 the House passed the bipartisan Weldon-Stupak 
Human Cloning Prohibition Act by a large majority. Advanced Cell 
Technologies of Massachusetts threatens human lives; and if government 
does not act, we are co-conspirators.
  To produce one live cloned sheep, Dolly, scientists created 277 sheep 
embryos; 276 died in different stages of development or were discarded. 
The head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Wilton D. 
Gregory of Belleville, Illinois, said that human cloning does not treat 
any disease but turns human reproduction into a manufacturing process 
by which human beings are mass produced to preset qualifications. It is 
time for the other legislative body to move and prohibit human cloning.

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