Legislators hold the power to make a day in the lab a felony, and most people hope that these senators at least know what they are talking about. "I don't expect Congress to understand everything, but we want their decision to be based on facts," says Michael West, president and chief executive officer of Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), the Worcester, Mass.-based biotechnology firm that first cloned a human embryo last year.1
Scientists are demonstrating the promise of therapeutic cloning mostly in the literature,2 but the news media have publicized provocative claims, such as a woman who eight weeks' pregnant with a cloned human.3 Cognizant of the technical, precise, and sometimes inflammatory nature of these issues, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the Congressional Research Service, and others are working to provide unbiased information for decision makers in the form of reports and testimonies. "There isn't a lack of knowledge," assures ...
