    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 15 (Monday, April 15, 2002)]
    [Pages 608-610]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks on Human Cloning Legislation

    April 10, 2002

        Well, thank you all so very much for coming to the White House. It's
    my honor to welcome you to the people's house.
        I particularly want to honor three folks who I had the honor of
    meeting earlier, Joni Tada, Jim Kelly, and Steve McDonald. I want to
    thank you for your courage; I want to thank you for your wisdom; I want
    to thank you for your extraordinary perseverance and faith. They have
    triumphed in the face of physical disability and share a deep commitment
    to medicine that is practiced ethically and humanely.
        All of us here today believe in the promise of modern medicine.
    We're hopeful about where science may take us. And we're also here
    because we believe in the principles of ethical medicine. As we seek to
    improve human life, we must always preserve human dignity. And
    therefore, we must prevent human cloning by stopping it before it
    starts.
        I want to welcome Tommy Thompson, who is the Secretary of Health and
    Human Services, a man who is doing a fine job for America. I want to
    thank Members from the

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    United States Congress, Members from both political parties who are
    here. I particularly want to thank Senator Brownback and Senator
    Landrieu for sponsoring a bill about which I'm going to speak.
        As well, we've got Senator Frist and Senator Bond and Senator
    Hutchinson and Senator Santorum and Congressman Weldon, Stupak, and
    eventually Smith and Kerns. They just don't realize--thank you all for
    coming--they seem to have forgotten we start things on time here in the
    White House. [Laughter]
        We live in a time of tremendous medical progress. A little more than
    a year ago, scientists first cracked the human genetic code, one of the
    most important advances in scientific history. Already, scientists are
    developing new diagnostic tools so that each of us can know our risk of
    disease and act to prevent them.
        One day soon, precise therapies will be custom made for our own
    genetic makeup. We're on the threshold of historic breakthroughs against
    AIDS and Alzheimer's disease and cancer and diabetes and heart disease
    and Parkinson's disease. And that's incredibly positive.
        Our age may be known to history as the age of genetic medicine, a
    time when many of the most feared illnesses were overcome. Our age must
    also be defined by the care and restraint and responsibility with which
    we take up these new scientific powers.
        Advances in biomedical technology must never come at the expense of
    human conscience. As we seek what is possible, we must always ask what
    is right, and we must not forget that even the most noble ends do not
    justify any means.
        Science has set before us decisions of immense consequence. We can
    pursue medical research with a clear sense of moral purpose, or we can
    travel without an ethical compass into a world we could live to regret.
    Science now presses forward the issue of human cloning. How we answer
    the question of human cloning will place us on one path or the other.
        Human cloning is the laboratory production of individuals who are
    genetically identical to another human being. Cloning is achieved by
    putting the genetic material from a donor into a woman's egg, which has
    had its nucleus removed. As a result, the new or cloned embryo is an
    identical copy of only the donor. Human cloning has moved from science
    fiction into science.
        One biotech company has already began producing embryonic human
    clones for research purposes. Chinese scientists have derived stem cells
    from cloned embryos created by combining human DNA and rabbit eggs.
    Others have announced plans to produce cloned children, despite the fact
    that laboratory cloning of animals has lead to spontaneous abortions and
    terrible, terrible abnormalities.
        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.
        In the current debate over human cloning, two terms are being used,
    reproductive cloning and research cloning. Reproductive cloning involves
    creating a cloned embryo and implanting it into a woman with the goal of
    creating a child. Fortunately, nearly every American agrees that this
    practice should be banned. Research cloning, on the other hand, involves
    the creation of cloned human embryos which are then destroyed to derive
    stem cells.
        I believe all human cloning is wrong, and both forms of cloning
    ought to be banned for the following reasons. First, anything other than
    a total ban on human cloning would be unethical. Research cloning would
    contradict the most fundamental principle of medical ethics, that no
    human life should be exploited or extinguished for the benefit of
    another. Yet, a law permitting research cloning, while forbidding the
    birth of a cloned child, would require the destruction of nascent human
    life.
        Secondly, anything other than a total ban on human cloning would be
    virtually impossible to enforce. Cloned human embryos created for
    research would be widely available in laboratories and embryo farms.
    Once

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    cloned embryos were available, implantation would take place. Even the
    tightest regulations and strict policing would not prevent or detect the
    birth of cloned babies.
        Third, the benefits of research cloning are highly speculative.
    Advocates of research cloning argue that stem cells obtained from cloned
    embryos would be injected into a genetically identical individual
    without risk of tissue rejection. But there is evidence, based on animal
    studies, that cells derived from cloned embryos may indeed be rejected.
        Yet, even if research cloning were medically effective, every person
    who wanted to benefit would need an embryonic clone of his or her own to
    provide the designer tissues. This would create a massive national
    market for eggs and egg donors and exploitation of women's bodies that
    we cannot and must not allow.
        I stand firm in my opposition to human cloning. And at the same
    time, we will pursue other promising and ethical ways to relieve
    suffering, through biotechnology. This year for the first time, Federal
    dollars will go towards supporting human embryonic stem cell research
    consistent with the ethical guidelines I announced last August.
        The National Institutes of Health is also funding a broad range of
    animal and human adult stem cell research. Adult stem cells, which do
    not require the destruction of human embryos and which yield tissues
    that can be transplanted without rejection, are more versatile than
    originally thought. We're making progress. We're learning more about
    them. And therapies developed from adult stem cells are already helping
    suffering people.
        I support increasing the research budget of the NIH, and I ask
    Congress to join me in that support. And at the same time, 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.
        This carefully drafted bill would ban all human cloning in the
    United States, including the cloning of embryos for research. It is
    nearly identical to the bipartisan legislation that last year passed the
    House of Representatives by more than a 100-vote margin. It has wide
    support across the political spectrum. Liberals and conservatives
    support it. Religious people and nonreligious people support it. Those
    who are pro-choice and those who are pro-life support the bill. This is
    a diverse coalition, united by a commitment to prevent the cloning and
    exploitation of human beings. It would be a mistake for the United
    States Senate to allow any kind of human cloning to come out of that
    Chamber.
        I'm an incurable optimist about the future of our country. I know we
    can achieve great things. We can make the world more peaceful. We can
    become a more compassionate nation. We can push the limits of medical
    science. I truly believe that we're going to bring hope and healing to
    countless lives across the country. And as we do, I will insist that we
    always maintain the highest of ethical standards.
        Thank you all for coming.

    Note: The President spoke at 1:18 p.m. in the East Room at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to H.R. 2505, the proposed ``Human
    Cloning Prohibition Act of 2001.''