| Virginia legislators: Don't send in the clones |
02.13.02
What do a famous sheep, mice, pigs and a cow kidney have in common?
They've all been successfully cloned.
The cow that received a kidney cloned by Massachusetts scientists in January, marked the first successful therapeutic clone -- a clone used to benefit physical and mental health. This exemplifies a great advancement in stem cell research, although the cloned kidney reportedly cannot perform all the tasks of a natural kidney.
Such research could have been done in Virginia: The state has no laws restricting human therapeutic cloning. Scientists and doctors are free to use cloning to grow organs needed for transplants.
But this could change soon.
A bill before the House Health, Welfare and Institutions Committee would outlaw human embryonic stem cell research and the use of fertilized eggs in Virginia.
The bill, HB 639, prohibits embryonic stem cell research that is not federally approved. It also prohibits the sale and purchase of embryonic grown body parts. Violating the law would be a felony, punishable by imprisonment.
The bill would also regulate human research projects. Researchers would report to the state government periodically to prove the projects remain legal.
Another bill, HJ 148, would require a House panel is early January to examine the medical, ethical and scientific aspects of stem cell research in Virginia.
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