More individual US states are taking independent action on cloning legislation while no law has been passed federally. Last week, the Louisiana house criminal justice committee considered a bill that would ban cloning for any purpose in the state. Currently, Louisiana state law bans cloning for reproductive purposes only, while cloning for medical research is allowed. Previously, a bill to extend the life of the reproductive cloning ban was passed by a different house committee and approved by the Senate. The new bill banning all forms of cloning is a more recent introduction and is supported by the Catholic Church and pro-life groups in Louisiana.
In Nebraska, the state Senator has decided to delay further debate on a bill to ban all forms of cloning until the next session. There were only seven days of the session left, which would not have allowed enough time for a full debate. Senator Adrian Smith says that all forms of cloning should be banned to 'recognise the value of life', but that it is 'pretty clear we could not get through the process this year'.
In addition, legislators in Wisconsin have introduced an identical bill to both the state assembly and the Senate to ban reproductive cloning and cloning for medical research purposes. Sponsored by Republicans Steve Kestell and Joseph Liebham respectively, the bills criminalise all forms of cloning. According to the bill, prison sentences of up to 10 years and a fine of up to $1 million could be imposed on anyone who creates a cloned human embryo or profited from 'any embryo, cell, tissue or product derived from a human embryo produced by human cloning'. Opponents of the bill have, however, warned a Senate Judiciary Committee that scientists and funding for therapeutic cloning research would go to other states if the bill were passed.
Sources and References
-
Lawmakers introduce bills to ban human cloning
-
Cloning ban bill draws fire
-
Cloning ban proposal pushed to later agenda
-
Cloning foes back House measure
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.