5 replies to this topic

[kevin]

US Senate Committee Debates Total Cloning Ban

Betterhumans Staff[Thursday, March 20, 2003]

After the US House recently voted to ban both reproductive and therapeutic cloning, members of a Senate committee met Wednesday to debate the issue.

The Senate is all that stands in the way of a total cloning ban, as President Bush has said he will sign a ban into law if Congress passes one.

At the meeting, convened before the Senate Judiciary Committee, pro-life Republican Senator Orrin Hatch put forward his pro-cloning position. "I believe that human life begins in the womb, not in a petri dish," he said.

Hatch introduced bill S. 303 -- the Human Cloning Ban and Stem Cell Research Protection Act of 2003 -- on February 5. The bill would allow therapeutic cloning while banning reproductive cloning.

Saving lives

Hatch and another pro-lifer, Democrat Jim Langevin, believe that therapeutic cloning will help save lives, and that somatic cell nuclear transfer doesn't constitute the creation of a human life.

Langevin suffered a paralyzing spinal cord injury as a teenager and hopes to benefit from therapeutic cloning himself.

But Hatch and Langevin didn't go unopposed.

"There's only one type of human cloning," said Republican Sam Brownback, "and it always results in the creation of a human being."

Brownback has introduced bill S. 245 -- the Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2003 -- which would ban cloning for all purposes.

Link to article
US Senate Committee Debates Total Cloning Ban at Betterhumans.com

Edited by kperrott, 04 April 2003 - 11:55 PM.

[DJS]

Yes, I have my eye on this. I hope the total ban does not go through, but it could be another casualty of Washington.

Once again, this is a blow back reaction to the whole Raelian episode. Wack jobs located on "our" side of the perspective are hurting their cause. If the American conscience wasn't shocked into awareness by the Raelians a more thoughtful, informed debate on therapeutic cloning may have been possible. Now I fear that this is going to go down ideological lines, which means we lose.

People, here is the magic word for the day, subtly. Many of my fellow immortalists may find politics to be unbecoming, but to accomplish policy objectives one must have a solid understanding of political leveraging.

[kevin]

We would be well advised to recognized the political environment as realistically as possible. We would hope that things were otherwise, but most people just aren't on the same wavelength and NEVER will be. The most we can do is try to form as palatable and positive message as possible that harmonizes with the current needs of society.

It would do well for life-extensionists to quickly and quietly become as organized and cohesive as possible so that the messages beginning to emanate from the luddite-like conservatives can be countered with some rational alternatives.

[kevin]

More News posted on the website of Seniors Allied for Biomedical Research (SABR)

Washington DC - U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif) today provided the following testimony to the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space, urging a ban on human reproductive cloning while allowing promising nuclear transplantation research to continue.

Edited by kperrott, 30 March 2003 - 06:23 AM.

[DJS]

We would be well advised to recognized the political environment as realistically as possible.  We would hope that things were otherwise, but most people just aren't on the same wavelength and NEVER will be.  The most we can do is try to form as palatable and positive message as possible that harmonizes with the current needs of society.

Well Kperrott, I do not agree with you on foreign policy, but I do agree with this statement. The actual concept of indefinite life extension (practical immortality) is still a "way out there" concept that most people have never even thought of. However, the one big plus that we have on our side is that people love life. They absolutely love life and will fight with all of their will to hold onto it. No one, except the real religious wackos wants to die. Look at all of the new innovative cancer treatments that are being developed. Or a doctors near instinctual desire to save the life of his patient, even when it is a lost cause. The seed has been planted, all it needs now is a little water.

If we could cure cancer tomorrow, 99.999% of the American public would approve. The war on death has already begun. It is only a matter of time, and a concerted effort on the part of those who have the necessary vision, before humanity's attention is properly focused and the final battle begun.

[kevin]

In regards to how I feel about aging and anti-aging treatments and the establishments ignorance therof, I found an interesting paralell in the statements of a diabetic who inquired his doctors about an overlooked vitamin B1 supplement called benfotiamine that reduces diabetic complications...

Of the five physicians involved in diabetes care with whom I have spoken about benfotiamine in the last few weeks, not one had ever heard of it, despite the many studies on its benefits which have been published over the past decade. Since three of these people are also professors at the local medical school, I assume they are not stupid or lazy, so their lack of knowledge must come from a lack of the kind of existential desperation which motivates their patients' restless inquisitiveness

The 'existential desperation' is something that never leaves me, so inquire I must... I only hope that the US is remains the strong leader in this and other related fields as my chinese is TERRIBLE...

Edited by kperrott, 04 April 2003 - 09:31 PM.