South Carolina House Passes Pro-Life Human Cloning Ban

Dianne Irving’s Comments
Dianne N. Irving, M.A., Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy, The Catholic University of America and,
former bench research biochemist (NIH/NCI)
Reproduced with Permission

[[Note: As I have recently indicated with previous analyses of the recent Wisconsin and Louisiana human cloning "bans", a number of bills purporting to be "total bans" on human cloning have been appearing that are not really "total bans", despite their appearances. To date I have found 10 state cloning "bans" that fail to be "total bans" for similar reason.

The following is a brief analysis of the recent human cloning "ban" passed in South Carolina. Below please find: (1) a recent news posting which reports that the human cloning bill just passed in South Carolina is such a "total ban"; and, (2) a copy of that human cloning "ban", along with my own comments. Also check my recent testimony before the New Jersey State Senate Committee concerning their proposed cloning "ban", as it contains all of the scientific references needed to support my comments respectfully submitted below. -- DNI]]



From:
The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Reply-To: Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject: South Carolina House Passes Pro-Life Human Cloning Ban
Source: Pro-Life Infonet; June 6, 2003

South Carolina House Passes Pro-Life Human Cloning Ban

Columbia, SC -- Without opposition, the Prohibition of Human Cloning Act (H3819) passed the S.C. House of Representatives Wednesday and moved to the State Senate. The bill bans all cloning of human embryos and would prohibit what President Bush calls "human embryo farms" and "human embryo hatcheries."

In 2002, the House passed a similar authentic cloning ban bill by a stunning lopsided, bi-partisan vote of 77-15. Also in 2002, the Senate passed a phony ban (the clone-and-kill bil) that allowed the cloning of human embryos but mandated that the clones be killed at a certain stage of development. Both bills failed to pass a conference committee.

This year's pro-life House victory for the human cloning ban is believed to be the first time pro-life legislation has ever passed the chamber uncontested.

Rep. Greg Delleney, R-Chester, the measure's chief sponsor said, "By passing the ban on all human cloning we are protecting human dignity and espousing public policy that recognizes science without limits is not good." Rep. Delleney, an attorney and long-term pro-life lawmaker, said that without a ban on all human cloning "we as a society risk degenerating into the madness of NAZI Germany."

The bill now moves to the Senate where it will not be taken up before January of 2004. During the legislative recess, grassroots pro-lifers are encouraged to visit their senator and advocate for passage of the ban on all human cloning.

This bill has the strong support of South Carolina Citizens for Life, the state's leading pro-life organziation.


South Carolina General Assembly - Legislative Printing, Information and Technology Systems. Click here: http://www.scstatehouse.net/cgi-bin/query2001.exe?first=DOC&querytext=cloning&category=Legislation&session=115&conid=383237&result_pos=0&keyval=1153819&printornot=N


H 3819


H 3819 General Bill,
By Delleney, Haskins, Altman, G. Brown, Duncan, Emory, Frye, Hamilton, Keegan, Kirsh, Koon, Loftis, J.M. Neal, Pinson, E.H. Pitts, M.A. Pitts, Talley, Taylor, Toole, Vaughn, Viers, Walker, Simrill, Gilham and G.R. Smith


A BILL TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 16-17-745 SO AS TO ENACT THE "PROHIBITION OF HUMAN CLONING ACT" TO MAKE IT UNLAWFUL FOR A PERSON TO PERFORM OR PARTICIPATE IN HUMAN CLONING, TO DERIVE ANY PRODUCT FROM HUMAN CLONING, OR TO SHIP, RECEIVE, TRANSPORT, TRANSFER, OR DISTRIBUTE IN INTERSTATE COMMERCE AN EMBRYO DERIVED FROM HUMAN CLONING, TO DEFINE CLONING, TO PROVIDE CRIMINAL PENALTIES, AND TO PROVIDE FOR SUSPENSION OF THE PROFESSIONAL LICENSE OF A PERSON VIOLATING THIS ACT.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:


SECTION 1.
This act may be cited as the "Prohibition of Human Cloning Act".


SECTION 2.
The 1976 Code is amended by adding:


"Section 16-17-745.
(A) As used in this section:

(1) 'Human cloning' means human asexual reproduction, accomplished by introducing nuclear material from one or more human somatic cells into a fertilized or unfertilized oocyte whose nuclear material has been removed or inactivated so as to produce a living organism, at any stage of development, that is genetically virtually identical to an existing or previously existing human organism.

[[[[This definition of "human cloning" would not ban ANY human cloning, for the following reasons:

(1) The definition of human cloning in this bill applies only to one human cloning technique, i.e., SCNT. It does not refer to human cloning techniques using nuclear transfer with germ line cells; nor does it refer to human cloning by means of blastomere separation, blastocyst splitting, pronuclei transfer or any other human cloning techniques. Therefore, this bill does not ban any of these other human cloning techniques.

(2) The bill's definition of cloning in terms of SCNT is scientifically erroneous and therefore does not even ban human cloning using the SCNT technique. That is, the immediate product of SCNT is NOT accurately defined as "a living organism having genetic material that is virtually identical to the genetic material of an existing or previously existing human organism." This is because:

(a) the mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) of the donor cell is not transferred to the embryo; and,

(b) the mDNA of the enucleated oocyte used remains in the new embryo.

Therefore, the genome of the new embryo is different on these two counts, and thus is NOT "virtually identical to the genetic material of an existing or previously existing human organism." Since the bill would only apply to this scientifically erroneous form of human cloning, it would not ban the real SCNT human cloning technique.

Therefore, NO human cloning is prohibited by this bill.

3. The bill defines the use of only somatic cell nuclei for transfer in human cloning; it does not include the use of the nuclear transfer cloning technique in which the diploid nucleus of a germ line cell could be used to clone a human being. Therefore, this bill would allow human cloning by means of germ line cell nuclear transfer (GLCNT).

4. A "fertilized oocyte" IS a human embryo (an organism), not an oocyte (a cell). Thus the use of the term "fertilized oocyte" as used in this bill really means cloning by means of transferring the nucleus of a somatic cell into an already existing embryo. Since this cloning technique does not fall within the bill's definition of "human cloning", then the bill would not apply to it (and thus it would be allowed). -- DNI]]]]

(2) 'Asexual reproduction' means reproduction not initiated by the union of oocyte and sperm.

(3) 'Somatic cell' means a diploid cell, having a complete set of chromosomes, obtained or derived from a living or deceased human organism at any stage of development.

[[This is a scientifically incorrect and misleading definition of "somatic cell". There are two general categories of DIPLOID cells in the human body: somatic cells, and germ line cells. Both types of cells are diploid, having "a complete set of chromosomes". The bill's definition implies that all diploid human cells are somatic cells, thus leaving out of consideration all of the germ line cells of the human body. That would allow human cloning -- by means of any cloning technique -- using diploid germ line cells. -- DNI]]

(4) 'Product' of human cloning includes stem cells and all other constituent parts of an embryo created through human cloning.

[[Since the bill defines "cloning" only in terms of SCNT, and since that cloning technique is scientifically misdefined, all human cloning is allowed, including all products resulting from the use of all cloning techniques. -- DNI]]

(B) No person shall knowingly or with reckless disregard:

(1) perform or attempt to perform human cloning or derive any product from human cloning;

[[The term "human cloning" in this bill is scientifically misdefined, thus allowing human cloning using all human cloning techniques. Therefore, no "person" could be prohibited from performing or attempting to perform any human cloning or deriving any product from human cloning. -- DNI]]

(2) participate in an attempt to perform human cloning or derive any product from human cloning;

[[The term "human cloning" in this bill is scientifically misdefined, thus allowing human cloning using all human cloning techniques. Therefore, no "person" who participates in an attempt to perform any kind of human cloning or to derive any product from human cloning could be prohibited. -- DNI]]

(3) ship, receive, transport, transfer, or distribute in intrastate commerce for any purpose an embryo produced by human cloning or any product derived from such embryo.

[[1. The term "human cloning" in this bill is scientifically misdefined, thus allowing human cloning using all human cloning techniques. Therefore, no "person" could be prohibited from shipping, receiving, transporting, transferring, or distributing in intrastate commerce for any purpose a human organism, or any product derived from such an embryo produced by human cloning.

2. Since this section applies specifically to intrastate commerce only, it would not apply to interstate commerce. -- DNI]]

(C) A person who violates subsection (B) is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than one hundred thousand dollars or imprisoned for not more than ten years, or both. However, in the case of a violation that involves the derivation of a pecuniary gain, the person must be fined not less than one million dollars and not more than an amount equal to the amount of the gross gain multiplied by two, if that amount is greater than one million dollars. Each violation constitutes a separate offense.

[[Since no human cloning using any human cloning technique is prohibited by this bill, no one would could be guilty of a felony, fined, or imprisoned for violating anything by cloning human beings using any human cloning techniques. -- DNI]]

(D) A license to practice a profession or occupation issued by a board, agency, or department of this State must be suspended immediately upon conviction of a licensee violating subsection (B) while engaging in that profession or occupation.

[[Since no human cloning using any human cloning technique is prohibited by this bill, no license to practice a profession or occupation issued by a board, agency, or department of this State would be suspended while engaging in that profession or occupation. -- DNI]]

(E) Nothing in subsection (B) restricts areas of scientific research not specifically prohibited by this section, including research in the use of nuclear transfer or other cloning techniques to produce molecules, DNA, cells other than human embryos, tissues, organs, plants, or animals other than humans or human-animal chimera.

[[[[As is standard in most legislation, this bill generally stipulates that if something is not specifically addressed by this bill then it is not covered (prohibited) by this bill. Additionally, as is usual in these bills addressing human cloning, human embryonic stem cell research, human embryo research, human fetal research, etc., this bill also stipulates certain specific activities that do not fall under the bill's prohibitions, and thus they are specifically allowed. Therefore, anything that is not included in this list is not covered by this bill; and, any items that are specified by this bill that are scientifically misdefined would not be covered by this bill.

Therefore, this bill acknowledges here that there are other cloning techniques that may be used to clone human beings. It specifically allows human cloning by means of nuclear transfer and other cloning techniques. But because "nuclear transfer" in this bill erroneously only applies to the use of somatic cells in somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), it does not cover human cloning by "nuclear transfer" by means of the use of germ line cells in germ line cell nuclear transfer (GLCNT), which thus would be allowed. And because "human cloning" is scientifically misdefined in this bill, germ line cells could be used to clone human beings using any human cloning technique. Note, e.g., because most germ line cells are diploid they can be cloned using nuclear transfer; because primitive germ line cells are totipotent they can be cloned by means of "twinning".

This section also specifically allows cloning by means of the use of "molecules". Human pronuclei are "molecules" - they are molecules of human DNA. Since cloning by means of the use of "molecules" is specifically allowed by this section, human cloning by means of pronuclei transfer is specifically allowed.

And since "human embryo" is scientifically misdefined in this bill as not beginning to exist until after syngamy and the formation of the zygote, "human organism" would likewise be misdefined - thus allowing human cloning by means of pronuclei transfer. Because of the same misdefinition, human/human chimeras and human animal chimeras produced by pronuclei transfer before syngamy would be specifically allowed by this section. - DNI]]

(F) Subsection (B)(3) must be interpreted to apply to the maximum extent not inconsistent with the federal commerce clause."

SECTION 3. If any section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this act is for any reason held to be unconstitutional or invalid, such holding shall not affect the constitutionality or validity of the remaining portions of this act, the General Assembly hereby declaring that it would have passed this act, and each and every section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase, and word thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more other sections, subsections, paragraphs, subparagraphs, sentences, clauses, phrases, or words hereof may be declared to be unconstitutional, invalid, or otherwise ineffective.

SECTION 4. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

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