States take action on cloning, embryonic research

A bioethicist says global consensus is needed to move stem cell technology forward.

By Andis Robeznieks, AMNews staff. June 30, 2003.

The promise of medical treatments from embryonic stem cell research and the distastefulness of human cloning are combining to create a volatile stew of science and politics.

Until recently the debate was confined to national politics, where dueling cloning bills in the U.S. Senate appear to be canceling each other out. However, state legislatures are now getting into the act as well.

The National Conference of State Legislatures reports that 68 fetal and embryonic research bills plus 68 cloning bills were introduced in 29 states this year.

Cloning to produce human beings appears to have almost universal opposition, so the main controversy involves cloning embryos in order to harvest their stem cells for medical research. The two forms of cloning are politically linked, leaving federal la

Many observers are worried that other nations will surpass the United States in scientific advances and that something just about everyone wants -- a ban on reproductive cloning -- will never get approved.

"You can't really talk about stem cell research without talking about cloning," said NCSL policy analyst Alissa Johnson.