Jim Sensenbrenner: “Mr. Chairman, the debate on whether or not human embryos should be cloned is one that goes across religious lines, it…”

“Mr. Chairman, the debate on whether or not human embryos should be cloned is one that goes across religious lines, it goes across philosophical lines, and it goes across political lines; and I certainly can respect those who come down on the other side of this piece of legislation. But this amendment in the nature of a substitute is the equivalent of a political knuckle ball thrown into the debate on whether or not human embryos should be cloned. In June of 1997, President Clinton's National Bioethics Advisory Committee issued its report entitled ``Cloning Human Beings.'' I referred to this in the general debate, but I want to refer to this again because this is the crux of the argument against the Greenwood substitute. The executive summary of President Clinton's blue ribbon commission states in part: ``The commission began its discussions fully recognizing that any effort in humans to transfer a somatic cell nucleus into an enucleated egg involves the creation of an embryo with the apparent potential to be implanted in utero and developed to term.'' The whole question around the Greenwood substitute amendment is how to police the cloned human embryos once they are created.”