CLINTON WANTS BAN ON HUMAN CLONING

January 12, 1998

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- President Clinton on Saturday said he was troubled by a scientist's desire to clone a human and urged Congress to pass a ban on human cloning experiments for at least five years.

Clinton, in his weekly radio address, was speaking of Chicago-area physicist Richard Seed, who caused an uproar this week when he said he was ready to set up a clinic to clone human babies and predicted that as many as 200,000 human clones a year would be produced once his process was perfected.

Seed, a Harvard-educated physicist, reignited the debate that began last March when researchers in Scotland cloned a sheep named Dolly. He said he could produce a human clone within 18 months provided he can get financial backing, with his first service being cloned babies for infertile couples.

"This week, like many Americans, I learned the profoundly troubling news that a member of the scientific community is actually laying plans to clone a human being," Clinton said.

"Personally, I believe that human cloning raises deep concerns," he said.

Last June, Clinton sent Congress legislation that would ban human cloning for at least five years. Now, Clinton said in his radio address, the need for passage was more urgent than ever.

"Unfortunately, Congress has not yet acted on this legislation," he said. "Yet, it's now clearer than ever the legislation is exactly what is needed."

White House officials blamed a lack of attention by the Republican-led Congress for the failure so far of what Clinton dubbed the "Cloning Prohibition Act of 1997." They hoped the controversy triggered by Seed would spur Congress into action.

A White House spokesman, Josh Silverman, said so far no member of Congress had stepped forward to sponsor Clinton's proposed legislation and that the president wanted to refocus the attention of Congress on the subject.

Clinton's proposal would make illegal any attempt to create a human being using the so-called somatic cell nuclear transfer technology that produced Dolly the sheep, in which an adult cell was fused with an egg.

Clinton would not block the use of cloning technology to clone molecules, DNA, cells and tissues because it holds promise for producing replacement skin, cartilage or bone tissue for burn or accident victims and nerve tissue to treat spinal cord injury.

Various forms of cloning technology have been used for decades resulting in important biomedical and agricultural advances. Genes, cells and tissues have been cloned to develop new therapies for treating such disorders as cancer, diabetes and cystic fibrosis.

But Clinton said scientific advancement should not take place in a "moral vacuum."

"Technological developments divorced from values will not bring us one step closer to meeting the challenges or reaping the benefits of the 21st century," Clinton said.

Noting that most scientists have refrained from experimenting with human cloning, Clinton warned that "we know it's possible for some to ignore the consensus of their colleagues and proceed without regard for our common values."

"So today, again, I call on Congress to act now to make it illegal for anyone to clone a human being," Clinton said.

Clinton issued an executive order last year banning the use of any federal money for human cloning research.

Several states have begun looking at a ban on human cloning, including Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin and Connecticut.

The 69-year-old Seed has said that if the United States does outlaw human cloning, he would set up his operation elsewhere -- mentioning Mexico, the Cayman Islands or the Bahamas as possible alternatives.