The U.S. Senate is gearing up for a showdown vote within the next couple of months over whether to outlaw all forms of cloning involving human cells or to ban cloning for reproductive purposes while permitting research using SCNT, or therapeutic cloning. If the Senate should pass a total ban, the measure almost certainly will be signed into law. The Republican-led House of Representatives last July approved a similar bill and President George W. Bush supports a ban on all forms of human cloning.2
The ACT pronouncement was quickly condemned by opponents of human cell cloning. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), a leading opponent of human cloning and embryonic stem cell research, pressed for a six-month moratorium on cloning. Brownback's amendment, attached to an unrelated and controversial measure permitting Arctic oil drilling, failed on procedural grounds in early December.
"We dodged a bullet," says American Society of Cell Biology director of ...
