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Lawmakers Want to Ban Human Cloning Research

April 15, 1997
By: Jung Wha Yoon
State Capital Bureau

Missouri legislators are climbing on the bandwagon to limit cloning research.

They are following President Clinton as well as U.S. senator Kit Bonds' lead in denouncing "human" cloning research. Jung Wha Yoon brings us the details of the legislators' position.

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About 30 Missouri lawmakers are working to illegalize the use of state funds in human cloning research.

The bill's sponsors say it was introduced even though it is late in the session.

They say they were spurred by the successful cloning of a sheep.

One of the lead sponsors, Republican representative Pat Kelly says researchers need to proceed with caution.

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Contents: My primary interest is to just stop before we proceed with this and investigate very thoroughly so we know what we're doing.

Kelly says this caution is necessary because human cloning has deep ethical and moral, as well as medical implications.

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Contents: I don't think the world was set up for us to be creating another human life.

Republican representative Marilyn Edwards-Pavia of Jefferson county agrees.

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Contents: In my personal opinion, human cloning is a moral issue. We can clone individuals but we can never clone their spirit.

The sponsors of the short bill are optimistic about attaching the legislation to another bill in order to make it law.

Jim Schneider is a lobbyist for the University of Missouri...which conducts extensive animal research.

He is less optimistic about the bill's chances.

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Contents: I'm not anticipating this legislation will pass, however, if it does pass, I don't think the university will have a problem with it.

The bill would also require the universities, medical research center and department of health to report cloning activity of humans as well as animals.

Representative Edwards-Pavia:

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Contents: The reason the animal element is in there is that research have found that they are mixing genes of humans and animals and we need to know how that is impacted.

Besides the moral issue, the sponsors of the bill are concerned about the possible dangerous medical implications.

Edwards-Pavia expresses fears that if a deficiency is genetically duplicated, there is a possibility for viral infections that could wipe out an entire species.

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Contents: If we look into cloning people for organ donations, we are cloning defective genes. Each one of us has defective genes, as we already find in research.

So far, there's been no public opposition to the bill, but one representative questions the effectiveness of the bill.

Chamois representative Merill Townley:

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Contents: It's going to be awfully difficult to legislatively stop the research.

Townley says the research on animal cloning will continue...and that it's only a step away from human cloning.

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Contents: Once the knowledge is there, somebody is going to use it.

The future of human cloning is being considered in the House Critical Issues committee. From Jefferson City, Jung Wha Yoon.