Stem Cell Block Tango/Clone On The Range

I recently engaged in a solid discussion on stem cell research and cloning. Many others are far more informed than me, but here are my thoughts, for whatever they are worth...

As a BBC story about a legally blind American who regained some of his sight through stem cell therapy illustrates, stem cell therapy has a role in the United States. The therapy is legal, as are both forms of stem cell research, adult and embryonic. But there is a ban (S. 723; do a bill number search at Thomas) on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research beyond the existing lines approved by Congress. Privately-funded embryonic stem cell research still occurs, but the narrow focus of the federal funding make obtaining grants considerably more difficult, leading to complaints about the Bush Administration and Congress retarding research. The Bush Administration and Congress were the first to approve the use of American tax dollars for embryonic stem cell research: Many feel it is not enough, and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation is hosting a petition to expand stem cell research; others regard the controversy as a distortion, and point to related but less contentious procedures.

The President's past remarks on stem cell research also draw attention to the issue of cloning. Human and therapeutic cloning is still legal in the US, except in states that chose to enact blanket bans themselves. Remember, in order for a US federal law to go into force it must gain a majority in both chambers of Congress, and then either be signed into force by the President or be approved by a two-thirds Senate majority. The US Senate refused the House of Representatives' 2001 cloning ban, the bill (H.R. 534; again, see Thomas) that the House passed in February 2003 is dead in the water, and a Senate bill (S. 245) is still under review by the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Notably, it was Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak who spearheaded the 2003 ban, arguing even more strongly than the bill's co-sponsor, Florida Republican Dave Weldon. "The human race is not open to experimentation at any level, even the molecular level," Stupak said. That rules out a large swathe of medical research, doesn't it? Do human trials in drug tests count? How about taste tests? And you cannot tell me that Stupak never 'experimented' in college...

Of greater concern is a United Nations resolution to ban all forms of cloning worldwide, which is also one of the few UN issues where President Bush has wholehearted support from the Vatican. I oppose human cloning--it is high-risk, and there is more than a whiff of Master Race eugenics in the concept--but the benefits of therapeutic cloning stand a healthy chance of outweighing the dangers. France slapping down a US initiative could actually be a good thing this time 'round.

Update: Another topic that briefly arose was the existence of laws that circumvent the rule that you cannot be arrested for doing something in another country, unless it is illegal in both places. These laws make it illegal to travel, or conspire to travel, to another country to commit certain acts that would be illegal in the citizen's homeland, regardless of the legality where the acts occurred. They cannot arrest you for what you did, but they can arrest you for leaving the country to do it.

My feelings on these kinds of laws are mixed. They prove useful in taking sexual predators out of circulation, for example, but there may also be something intrusive, perhaps even fascist about such legal work-arounds. The libertarian (in the American sense) within me does not like it...