Issue: Human Cloning 

Read the SWHR policy statement on cloning.

If you have more questions about cloning, read our cloning Q&A

On March 4, 1997, in response to the 1996 cloning of sheep Dolly, President Clinton issued an executive order banning the use of federal funds for cloning of human beings.

Additionally, in June of 1997, the National Bioethics Advisory Commission (NBAC) issued a report, Cloning Human Beings, which endorsed the moratorium on the use of federal funding to support any attempt to clone human beings.

On November 25, 2001, scientists at Advanced Cell Technology, a Massachusetts biotechnology firm, announced that they had created the first human embryos ever produced by cloning. The announcement raised serious concerns about the future of the research and immediately prompted action from both the Congress and the White House.

On November 28, 2001, by executive order, President Bush created the eighteen-member President's Council on Bioethics. On July 11, 2002, the Council released a report on cloning in which a majority of ten of the eighteen members recommended a ban on reproductive cloning and a four-year moratorium on therapeutic cloning. Seven members endorsed a ban on reproductive cloning but urged that therapeutic cloning be permitted under government regulation. One member refrained from offering his opinion due to his lack of attendance at meetings.

On December 4, 2001, the Senate Labor/HHS Appropriations Subcommittee held a hearing on cloning. The hearing featured testimony from Phyllis Greenberger, President & CEO of the Society for Women's Health Research, Michael West, President and CEO, Advanced Cell Technology, and Senator Sam Brownback.

In January 2002, the National Academies of Science (NAS) released a report, Scientific and Medical Aspects of Human Reproductive Cloning. Their report clearly distinguishes reproductive cloning-in which the objective is to create another human being-from the use of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), a therapeutic cloning technique, to create stem cells. The National Academies' report concludes that while there should be a ban on reproductive cloning, the scientific and medical considerations that justify a ban on reproductive cloning at this time are not applicable to SCNT to produce stem cells. The NAS report has been a major tool for the advocacy community in terms of supporting therapeutic cloning.

In 2004, scientists in South Korea claimed that they had successfully developed embryonic stem cells by transferring the nucleus of a human cell into the egg of the same donor, from which the nucleus had been removed.   However, these claims were later revealed to be false and were retracted.

Several new alternative stem cell derivation techniques emerged in fall 2005. Rudolph Jaenisch, M.D., of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) conducted a study, recently published in Nature, in which mice embryos were altered so that they do not form a placenta and therefore cannot implant in a womb, potentially alleviating the ethical concerns about destroying embryos in order to obtain stem cells. Additionally, Harvard researchers announced that they had succeeded in transforming adult skin cells so that they can become any type of cell in the human body, meaning they might someday be able to be utilized in the same manner as embryonic stem cells.

Since 1997, several bills on cloning have been introduced in Congress. While most legislation restricts cloning with the intent to produce a human being (reproductive cloning), other more restrictive bills, if enacted, would also ban therapeutic cloning, or cloning specific human cells, genes and other tissues for medical research purposes.

In the 108th Congress, the most prominent pieces of legislation were the "Human Cloning Prohibition Act" (S. 245/H.R. 534), the "Cloning Prohibition Act" (H.R. 801), and the "Human Cloning Ban And Stem Cell Research Protection Act" (S. 303). The "Human Cloning Prohibition Act" introduced by Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Representative Curt Weldon (R-PA), would have banned both reproductive cloning and the use of somatic cell nuclear transfer technology. The House version of this bill, H.R. 534, passed the House of Representatives on February 27, 2003. During the debate of H.R. 534, Representative James Greenwood (R-PA) attempted to amend the language with his own bill, H.R. 801, to prohibit reproductive cloning and to allow for therapeutic cloning. This amendment, however, was not agreed to.

While the "Human Cloning Prohibition Act" passed overwhelmingly in the U.S. House, the Senate is more evenly divided in its views and did not consider this legislation before adjourning. This legislation was re-introduced in March 2005 by Senator Brownback and Representative Weldon.

The "Human Cloning Ban and Stem Cell Research Protection Act" (S. 303), introduced on February 5, 2003, by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Arlen Specter (R-PA), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Tom Harkin (D-IA), and Zell Miller (D-GA), proposed to ban reproductive cloning but permit SCNT cloning for medical research. SWHR supported this legislation.

Although no action was taken on this bill during the 108th Congress, it was re-introduced in April 2005 by Senators Hatch, Feinstein, Specter, Kennedy, and Harkin and by Representatives Mary Bono (R-CA), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Mike Castle (R-DE), Edward Markey (D-MA), and Charles Bass (R-NH) in the House of Representatives. In July 2005, Senators Feinstein and Hatch introduced the “Human Cloning Ban Act of 2005,” which outlaws reproductive cloning but does not prohibit therapeutic cloning.

Action has also been taken on therapeutic cloning research at the state level. In January 2004, then-New Jersey Governor James McGreevey (D) signed into law a bill authorizing embryonic stem cell and therapeutic cloning research. While the law does not provide any state funding for this research, supporters hope that it will attract researchers and biomedical companies to the state. On November 2, 2004, California voters approved by a 59-41% margin a ballot initiative, Proposition 71, to support embryonic stem cell research by creating the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine and allocating $300 billion for this research over the next decade.

In the aftermath of the California vote, several other states are considering legislation to support and fund embryonic stem cell research, and some of these proposals would also support therapeutic cloning. However, lawmakers in Missouri are seeking to enact a ban on both reproductive and therapeutic cloning research. Several other states have introduced pro-therapeutic legislation.

SWHR, a member of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research (CAMR), has played an active role in encouraging members of Congress to support SCNT cloning for biomedical research.

(Last updated: Feb. 6, 2006)