WASHINGTON, June 12 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush opposes all forms of cloning and will not support a cloning compromise proposed by Senate Republicans, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Wednesday.
The comment came in light of a report that Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., who has sponsored a bill that would ban all forms of cloning, told his Republican colleagues that he was considering introducing a bill calling for a two-year moratorium because he did not believe there were sufficient votes to support a permanent ban.
Sixty votes would be required to pass the measure in the Senate.
The House has passed a ban on all cloning, and two cloning bills, Brownback's and one other, are making their way through the Senate. The other bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., would allow therapeutic cloning while banning reproductive cloning.
Therapeutic cloning involves cloning cells from an individual in order to generate stem cells that could be used to create tissues and organs to treat disease. Reproductive cloning, which is opposed in both the House and Senate, involves using cloning technology to create another human being.
Bush has held fast to his position that he opposes either form of cloning and would only support a total ban as passed by the House.
At a recent hearing on cancer research held by the Senate Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Specter noted a different solution to the cloning debate needs to be considered because it appears unlikely either Senate bill has enough votes to pass.
Specter proposed establishing an independent regulatory panel charged with overseeing the ethics of scientific cloning research. He did not elaborate on the details of the panel, and his office did not return phone calls from United Press International seeking comment.
