Congress May Vote Soon On Creation And Killing Of Human Embryos.(Brief Article)

WASHINGTON (August 3, 2001) - - As discussed in articles elsewhere in this issue, Congress may decide the fate of many thousands of embryonic human beings by roll call votes that are likely to occur over the weeks and months immediately ahead. >TXThe outcome of these congressional battles depends on immediate grassroots action by pro-life citizens nationwide.

Banning Human Cloning

Human cloning is a proposed process in which genetic material from one person would be artificially transferred into a human or animal egg cell, thereby beginning the life of a new human individual who has only one parent and who is genetically identical to that parent.

NRLC believes each human life at every stage of biological development is deserving of respect and protection, regardless of the circumstances under which that human life was created. In contrast, biotechnology corporations wish to use cloning to mass-produce human embryos so that they can be used - - and killed - - in medical research.

On July 31, the House of Representatives passed the Human Cloning Prohibition Act (H.R. 2505), sponsored by pro-life Reps. Dave Weldon (R-Fl.) and Bart Stupak (D-Mi.). (See the story on page one of this issue.)

This bill, which is supported by NRLC and many other organizations, would prohibit the use of cloning to create any human beings, including human embryos.

However, the Weldon-Stupak bill faces intense opposition from the powerful Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), which represents some 1,000 biotechnology corporations, including some that wish to use cloning to mass-produce human embryos in order to harvest their stem cells for medical research, or to subject them to other lethal manipulations. The biotechnology firms refer to this as "therapeutic cloning," but pro-life groups call it "clone and kill."