SB5: Attack of the Clones & The Spirit of HB 76
Today I was down in
The biggest issue, however, was human cloning. SB5 legalizes somatic cell nuclear transfer, which is widely defined as cloning, and was the process used to clone Dolly the sheep. Among the speakers was former Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell, who spoke on behalf of Hands Off Our Ovaries talked about egg harvesting that legalizing cloning would seem to require. Cloning requires thousands of eggs per attempt.
The committee meeting ran from after one to three o’clock in the afternoon. There were many speakers on both sides, but Senator Venables, the sponsor of the bill, and Senator Sokola specifically, the only other committee member who spoke, seemed not to be swayed by the testimony of the anti-clone side.
I am not sure if SB5 will in fact make it out of committee, but if it does, Venables says he would like it to come to the floor for a full vote in the next couple weeks.
After the SB5 hearing concluded, I strode across the State House to the committee hearing on HB76. HB76 is sponsored by Representative Joe Miro, the intent of which is to ban human cloning.
In the hearing, when the Representatives spoke, it seemed that most seemed to state that they opposed human reproductive cloning. Some of the Representatives took issue with some of the specific instances of language within the bill. The bill attempts to cover all the bases, including reproductive cloning, and the creation of chimeras.In the end, the vote for SB5 to make it out of committee is tomorrow, and HB 76 was table for another week. Officially, HB 76 was tabled to refine the language, but I have my suspicions that SB 5 sympathizers on the House committee are trying to stall HB 76.
For more information: A Rose and a Prayer
Labels: Cloning, Delaware, Stem Cells
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