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Republican House Outlaws |
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By Randolfe Wicker World's First Human Cloning Advocate With nearly a hundred vote margin, the U.S. House of Representatives adopted legislation that effectively outlaws most promising stem cell therapies. All those voting for the legislation insisted that they, in fact, supported "stem cell research". The real showdown came when the House had to choose between a legislation which outlawed the very technology that created Dolly (the Weldon bill) and another proposal which simply outlawed the cloning of human beings but allowed embryos to be cloned for the purpose of being used for stem cell research (the alternative Greenwood bill}.
Cloning and Stem Cell Research activist Randolfe Wicker is depicted here by artist Hunter O'Reilly in "Let My Family Live"
The more restrictive legislation which was adopted was sponsored by Representative David Weldon (R-Florida). The alternative bill, which would have allowed private researchers to continue working on so-called therapeutic cloning, was sponsored by James Greenwood, a more moderate Republican from Pennsylvania. The Greenwood alternative failed because some thirty-five Right-To-Life conservative Democrats crossed party lines to vote for the Weldon bill which President George Bush had endorsed. Half as many Republicans bucked their leadership to back the Greenwood proposal. "In the nine years I have been a member of this House, this is the least informed its 435 members have been on any issue." Representative Peter Deutsch (D-Florida), declared, while working to gather Democratic support for the Greenwood alternative, "It is frightening because it is so important." The debate reeked with religious conflicts. The Roman Catholic Church and the Methodist Church supported the Weldon bill.
They argued that if we allowed corporations to clone embryos and then experiment on them, we would be allowing the creation of human life for destructive purposes, that this would lead to turning embryos into just another commodity to be exploited, that soon there would be stacks of cloned embryos (too many to keep track of) and "embryo farms". They said poor women would be lining up to sell their eggs and that this was also a women's issue. Those supporting the alternative bill argued that one of a trillion cells taken from a person and made to divide in a Petri dish did not constitute a new human life, that you could not say a small clump of cells not bigger than a dot at the end of sentence was as important as an existing living human being. They pointed out that "effective" stem cell therapies required using stem cell cultures made from the patients' DNA, that it was hypocritical for those banning this promising research to argue that adult stem cells found within a patient had the same potential for curing countless diseases. When those supporting the ban insisted that adult stem cells might cure as much, the others responded that "no one really knows" and "shouldn't we let the scientists figure out the science here. This is not something we should be making political decisions about." The Weldon supporters said that all of Europe, with the exception of England, had outlawed cloning human embryos. They said it was necessary for the United States to show "moral leadership" and get in step with all those European nations and the European Parliament that had condemned England for funding embryonic cloning, the cloning of human embryos, for the express purpose of creating stem cell cultures. The Greenwood alternative would have allowed such research to continue in private laboratories where it was already underway. Those supporting the alternative bill argued that restricting science and outlawing such research would make the United States a second rate nation in both science and medicine. The Weldon bill and its supporters insisted that all human cloning had to be stopped before it got started, period. This bill carried a ten year felony jail term and a fine of a million dollars for anyone attempting to clone an embryo for stem cell or reproductive purposes. Furthermore, the Weldon bill outlawed the importation of any treatment resulting from therapeutic cloning done overseas. If researchers in England found a cure for diabetes, any American doctor who imported it to give to his patients would be liable to arrest, imprisonment and a fine of a million dollars as well. If you insist on letting this legislation aimed at outlawing the cloning of human beings, which we all oppose, to get mired in the stem cell debate, Greenwood declared, we will have accomplished nothing today! The Senate won't touch this bill! The level of debate at times acquired a surreal quality, more Hollywood than reality in tone. "No one would benefit more than members of this House," J.C. Watts (R-Oklahoma) exclaimed. "One could sit here while your other (your clone) could meet with constituents or attend a fundraiser. .Brave New World should not be born in America! Dolly the sheep should learn to fly before this Congress allows human cloning." The passage of the stringent Weldon legislation leaves the future of stem cell research in the hands of the Senate. There is nearly universal support for the idea of outlawing the cloning of human beings, of allowing a cloned embryo to be inserted into a woman's womb and brought to term. However, over 80% of the public supports stem cell research. The disconnect in the debate comes from the fact that the same pubic which supports stem cell research doesn't understand that the very stem cell research that holds so much promise is actually based on the same technology, Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT), that is used to clone human beings-an idea that the same public opposes as strongly as it supports stem cell research. The Senate will tackle this matter in September or October. Meanwhile, all the groups supporting stem cell research are gearing up to inform their members and bring pressure to bear on the Senate. That campaign can become quite personal. Many celebrities such as Michael J. Fox and Christopher Reeve have already waded into the debate. However, on Friday, August 3, 2001 TV host Montel Williams hosted a program during which he declared he was "not impartial this time around". Montel Williams announced that he suffered from Multiple Sclerosis (MS). That he didn't know anything about stem cells until recently but now felt his own health, his own life hung in the balance. Several patients who had been miraculously cured using stem cell therapies told their stories. The woman from the Family Research Council who was there to defend the Weldon bill and to argue that "it isn't right to take one human life to save another" literally got plummeted by Montel Williams, the other guests and the audience. Stem cell research and therapeutic cloning have become the great new issues of the 21st Century. At this time, the Right To Life wing of the Republican Party is prevailing. However, the Stem Cell Wars are just beginning. |
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