Legislators and members of the US biomedical community are expecting a resurgence of bills to limit or outlaw all forms of human cloning, spurred by the Christmas-week claim of Clonaid, a Bahamas-based company, to have created the first live human clone as well as announcements by other groups that more baby clones are on the way.
Despite widespread skepticism in the scientific community over the claims, opponents of cloning are hopeful that the new Congress, which convenes January 7 under Republican control, will quickly enact legislation to outlaw both human reproductive cloning and research or therapeutic cloning using somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) techniques. Such legislation was passed in the House in 2001 but stalled last year in the Senate.
"I would not be surprised if this issue has a big head of steam when Congress comes back in session," said a legislative affairs specialist with a major biomedical research ...
