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Source: Cybercast News Service; January 31, 2003
French Senate Passes Ban on All Human
Cloning
Paris, France -- The French Senate Thursday adopted a government-proposed
ban on all cloning, including human and therapeutic cloning, and
made reproductive cloning a crime "against the human species."
Nicolas About, president of the Social Affairs Commission in the
French Senate and author of the bill, explained that, "since reproductive
cloning interrupts the normal process of the human species in its
natural progress, it seems appropriate to punish it as a crime against
the human species."
"Cloning would violate our uniqueness and our human evolution and
its perpetrators will be punished under French law," About said.
Although the ban on human cloning, which is punishable by a 30-year
prison sentence and a fine of 7.5 million euros, was approved unanimously,
the rightist government proposal to halt therapeutic cloning was
opposed by left-wing members of the Senate who said they feared
it would hurt medical research.
However, About said the ban on therapeutic cloning could be lifted
if scientists proved, through experiments on animals, that the cloning
helped in the development of cures for diseases.
Pro-life groups oppose such cloning because it involves the destruction
of unborn children in order to obtain embryonic stem cells for research.
Pro-life organizations point to adult stem cell research as more
effective thus far in clinical trials and say it is able to be obtained
from many more sources.
"There is no such thing as therapeutic cloning," About said. "What
we have is cellular therapy that uses cloning and this is banned
in France. It will remain banned until scientists prove that they
will not cause more human catastrophes than healing."
Professor Claude Huriet, an honorary senator and a professor at
the Nancy Medical Faculty, agreed that therapeutic cloning could
be dangerous. He regretted that the ban did not go further in prohibiting
all research on embryonic cells.
"This kind of research includes cloning and you cannot be against
therapeutic cloning and for continued embryonic research," said
Huriet.
However, Professor Moshe Yaniv, a researcher at the Pasteur Institute,
said he was disappointed that "the bill bans certain kinds of research
work on embryos that transfer a cell's nucleus."
The proposed ban will now go to the Assembly for debate and then
return to the Senate for further discussion on any changes.
It is not expected to become law until the end of June.
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