Chris Smith: “I believe the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Greenwood) has injected what I really believe to be a straw man argument…”

“I believe the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Greenwood) has injected what I really believe to be a straw man argument when he suggests the issue of insoulment is part of this debate. It is not relevant. We are not talking about insoulment. The real issue before us is the simple but highly profound issue of whether or not it will be legally permissible to create human life for research purposes. Mr. Speaker, human cloning, if it is not already here, it is certainly on the fast track. It is not a matter of if, it is a matter of when. It seems to me we have to make sure that just because science possesses the capability to create cloned human beings that it not be permitted to carry out such plans, especially when the newly created humans would be used for the purpose of exploitation, abuse, and destructive experimentation. Once created human life, Mr. Speaker, can survive a few seconds, a few minutes, a few days, a few weeks, a few months, a few years, perhaps many years to old age. We need to understand the profound truth that life is a continuum.”