Posted on: Monday, March 3, 2003

EDITORIAL
House stand on cloning hurts more than helps

There's a good chance that President Bush's remarks on human cloning a year ago were designed to score a political point rather than make a scientific policy statement.

If so, the danger of such comments has come home to roost as the U.S. House voted for a departure from sensible, balanced cloning legislation that would preserve medical research while maintaining high ethical standards.

Bush called for a comprehensive, no-exceptions ban on human cloning, and that's what the House delivered.

Almost everyone condemns the idea of cloning cells for the purpose of creating a child. But that is not what is being discussed. What scientists want to do is clone embryonic cells, not create a fetus.

At this point, most scientists believe the most likely avenue for breakthroughs in a wide variety of diseases is through the use of embryonic cells.

The House measure would impose a 10-year prison term and a $1 million fine on anyone who tried to clone human cells for any purpose.

That would be a disaster. It would drive research underground, where federal ethical standards and disclosure rules would not apply.

What is needed instead is legislation that distinguishes between human cloning and what is called "regenerative medicine." In other words, cures, not creation.

That hope now resides in the Senate.