Nebraska "Prolife" Human Cloning "Ban" Won't Ban Any Cloning

Dianne Irving’s Comments
Dr. Dianne N. Irving, M.A., Ph.D.
copyright January 16, 2004
Reproduced with Permission

"Nebraska lawmakers are seeking to prohibit all forms of human cloning with a bill that will be taken up by the full state Senate next Monday, Jan. 19. The Human Cloning Prohibition Act, LB 602, is modeled after the federal cloning ban sponsored by U.S. Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA). While the bill has 34 co-sponsors, more than enough for passage, some Senators are now wavering in their support. The biotech industry claims cloning must be allowed to advance medical research." Family Research Council (http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WU04A10)

Could it be that some Nebraska Senators are "now wavering in their support" because they finally understand that their "prolife" human cloning "ban", like the federal bill on which it is explicitly based, won't ban ANY human cloning, including the cloning of human beings by means of the somatic cell nuclear transfer technique (only one of many cloning techniques)? Just to be safe, the following detailed concerns should be submitted to the Nebraska Senators for their responses, and any scientific statements made in response should be proven by formal documentation from human embryology textbooks in concert with the International Nomina Embryologica Committee: [For very extensive scientific and legal references that you can use -- all in concert with the international nomenclature --, please see Irving, "Playing God by manipulating man: Facts and frauds of human cloning", at:
http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/irv/irv_22manipulatingman1.html;
http://www.mocatholic.org/uploads/IrvingCloning3.pdf;
and http://www.uffl.org/irving/irvplayinggo.pdf


Irving Analysis of the Nebraska Human Cloning "Ban";

The Nebraska Human Cloning Bill can be found at: http://www.unicam.state.ne.us/pdf/INTRO_LB602.pdf


LB602 LB 602

LEGISLATURE OF NEBRASKA
NINETY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE
FIRST SESSION
LEGISLATIVE BILL 602

Because of the erroneous scientific definitions used in this bill, those human cloning techniques that are not addressed by this bill, and specific "prohibitions" which are stated in this bill, no human cloning will be banned by this bill. For example (first number responds to the number of the line within the Nebraska bill itself):

7 (2) Human cloning means human asexual reproduction,

1. "human asexual reproduction": Note that this term would apply to all kinds of human cloning techniques, not just the SCNT cloning technique identified below. Note too that the cell(s), or even subcellular materials, used to initiate "human asexual reproduction" could be derived from a normal sexually reproduced IVF human embryo, from a previously cloned (asexually reproduced) human embryo, from human/non-human chimeras, or from genetic materials that are artificially constructed de novo. Finally, note that if such materials were genetically altered before use, or if materials are artificially constructed de novo, they would therefore not be derived from any "existing or previously existing" human embryo or human cell, since the new embryo would be genetically unique. All of these kinds of cloning techniques and the use of such human genetic materials would be allowed by the Bill - for both "therapeutic" and "reproductive" purposes.

8 accomplished by introducing nuclear material

2. "by introducing nuclear material": This refers to genetic material (DNA) found only inside the nucleus of the cell. Therefore, the Bill would still allow the use of human genetic materials (DNA) found outside the nucleus in the cytoplasm of a cell for human cloning purposes, e.g., those found in mitochondria.

from one or more human

9 somatic cells

3. "human somatic cells":

The Bill is defining "cloning" only in terms of the somatic cell nuclear transplant (SCNT) cloning technique. Therefore this bill would allow the cloning of human beings by means of all other kinds of cloning techniques, for both "therapeutic" and "reproductive" purposes, e.g.: germ line cell nuclear transfer (GLSNT); "twinning" (blastomere separation and blastocyst splitting); pronuclei transfer; mitochondria transfer; embryos cloned by means of artificially constructed sperm and/or oocytes; parthenogenesis; production of human/human chimeras and human/non-human chimeras, etc.

into a fertilized or unfertilized oocyte whose

10 nuclear material has been removed or inactivated

4. "into a fertilized ... oocyte":

A "fertilized oocyte" is already a new human embryo - a single-cell human zygote, a human being. Therefore the Bill would allow the cloning of a new human embryo by using an already existing human embryo who would be profoundly genetically damaged or killed in the process.

so as to produce a

11 living organism, at any stage of development, that is genetically

12 virtually identical

5. "to produce a living organism ... that is genetically virtually identical": The Bill is defining SCNT erroneously; therefore the real SCNT cloning technique would still be allowed. Even as publicly acknowledged and published by many of the drafters of such bills, since only the "nuclear" genetic material (DNA) is removed from the donor cell, the mitochondrial DNA of the donor is NOT transferred to the cloned product (embryo). Furthermore, the mitochondrial DNA of the recipient oocyte is retained in the cloned product (embryo). The cloned embryo would NOT contain the mitochondrial DNA of the donor cell, and it WOULD contain the "foreign" mitochondrial DNA of the recipient oocyte cell. Therefore, in the real world, the product (embryo) cloned using somatic cell nuclear transfer is NOT "genetically virtually identical to an existing or previously existing human organism" being. Therefore, the Bill would NOT prohibit human cloning using the SCNT human cloning technique for either "therapeutic" or "reproductive" purposes.

Additionally, since the cloned human embryo is NOT really "genetically identical to the donor", if cloned from a patient for the purposes of using his/her own "human embryonic stem cells" in "therapy", these stem cells would still evoke a rejection reaction from that patient because of the presence in them of "foreign" DNA as well as because of the "missing donor" mitochondrial DNA. Finally, many scientists have grave concerns about the use of germ line cells in sexual or in a-sexual human reproduction for eugenic purposes.

to an existing or previously existing human

13 organism; and

6. "to an existing or previously existing human organism": Note that human embryos cloned using several other human cloning techniques - e.g., pronuclei transfer, the use of artificially constructed sperm, oocytes, embryos, etc. - would NOT be "genetically similar" to an "existing or previously existing human organism". They would be completely genetically unique, having never existed genetically as such before. Therefore the Bill would allow the cloning of such genetically unique human embryos for both "therapeutic" and "reproductive" purposes.

14 (3) Somatic cell means a diploid cell, having a complete

15 set of chromosomes,

7. "'somatic cell' means a diploid cell (having a complete set of chromosomes)": By defining only a "somatic cell" as "a diploid cell", it blurs any distinction between diploid somatic cells and diploid germ line cells. There are two basic categories (or subsets) of diploid cells in the human organism, both of which have a complete set of chromosomes - somatic cells and germ line cells. Since both kinds of cells are diploid, both kinds of cells can be used to clone human embryos using the nuclear transfer cloning technique. The Bill does not refer specifically to the use of diploid germ line cells. Therefore it would allow the cloning of human embryos by means of the germ line cell nuclear transfer (GLCNT) technique for both "therapeutic" and "reproductive" purposes. Additionally, since primitive germ line cells are also totipotent, the Bill would allow the cloning of human embryos by means of the "twinning" cloning technique for both "therapeutic" and "reproductive" purposes.

obtained or derived from a living or deceased

16 human body at any stage of development.

8. "obtained or derived from a living or deceased human body": Because germ line cells are not specifically addressed, the Bill would allow the cloning of human embryos by using diploid germ line cells in a nuclear transfer (GLCNT) cloning technique, and by the "twinning" of totipotent primitive germ line cells, for both "therapeutic" and "reproductive" purposes, obtained or derived from any living or deceased body. Because the use of artificially constructed gametes or embryos that never existed before are not specifically addressed, the Bill would allow the cloning of human embryos by means of all cloning techniques using these cloning "materials" for both "therapeutic" and "reproductive" purposes.

10 Sec. 5. Nothing in the Human Cloning Prohibition Act

11 restricts areas of scientific research not specifically prohibited

12 by the act, including research in the use of nuclear transfer or

13 other cloning techniques to produce molecules, deoxyribonucleic

14 acid, cells other than human embryos, tissues, organs, plants, or

15 animals other than humans.

9. "molecules, DNA": Some cloning of human embryos is accomplished by means of pronuclei transfer. For example, the male pronucleus from the just-fertilized oocyte of one human embryo, and the female pronucleus from the just-fertilized oocyte of another human embryo can be removed by micromanipulation and placed together in an enucleated oocyte, which is then stimulated, and a new cloned human embryo would be reproduced. In fact, such embryos would be human/human chimeras. Human pronuclei are not whole cells, nor whole nuclei, but only parts of nuclei - just molecules, and they are molecules of DNA. Therefore the prohibition in the Bill would allow the cloning of human embryos by means of pronuclei transfer for both "therapeutic" and "reproductive" purposes. The same problem exists with the use of artificially constructed sperm, oocytes and/or embryos.

10. "cells other than human embryos": would not cover the cloning of a single cell -- such as the single-cell human zygote - using all cloning techniques for both "therapeutic" and "reproductive" purposes. Nor would it cover -- depending on when during the fertilization process a new human being begins to exist -- the use of pronuclei transfer for both "therapeutic" and "reproductive" purposes, since pronuclei are only parts of a single cell.

11. "tissues": many researchers use the phrase "human tissues" to refer to what are in reality totipotent diploid human primordial germ line cells. Thus the cloning of new human beings by means of twinning these totipotent cells, or cloning them by means of nuclear transfer, for both "therapeutic" and "reproductive" purposes, would not be covered if the researchers' deceptive definition of "tissues" is accepted.

These concrete objective concerns would also apply to any other human cloning "ban", so it might be helpful to consider them when reading, studying or discussing similar "bans".


http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WU04A10
Family Research Council

Nebraska On the Brink of Banning Human Cloning

Nebraska lawmakers are seeking to prohibit all forms of human cloning with a bill that will be taken up by the full state Senate next Monday, Jan. 19. The Human Cloning Prohibition Act, LB 602, is modeled after the federal cloning ban sponsored by U.S. Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA). While the bill has 34 co-sponsors, more than enough for passage, some Senators are now wavering in their support. The biotech industry claims cloning must be allowed to advance medical research. But the promise of future miracle cures from research on cloned human embryos is grossly inflated. The real progress, as numerous studies demonstrate, is coming from research involving adult stem cells and cord blood cells that are obtained without destroying a human life.

The family policy council in Nebraska, Family First, is working hard to shore up the support of these wavering Senators and encouraging them to ban destructive research on tiny human beings in the name of science. If you are a Nebraska resident please go to the links below to contact your lawmakers and the Governor and ask them to ban all human cloning by supporting LB 602.

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