Washington Editor

WASHINGTON - Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) reportedly is leaning toward a two-year moratorium on human cloning as some sort of a temporary compromise to his bill that would criminalize all cloning, including therapeutic cloning, and the desire for compromise is directly related to the senator's failure to gain the 60 votes he needs to get his bill pushed through the Senate.

But he's not the only one who's been considering middle ground lately.

Just last week, a bipartisan group of senators led by Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) was looking at ways of tightening its bill, which permits therapeutic cloning, but bans human cloning. Those senators are considering language that would specify what researchers would be allowed to do in the field of human embryo cloning. (See BioWorld Today, June 7, 2002.)

While President George Bush supports the Brownback bill calling for a complete ban, he also supports the House version introduced by Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.) that passed last summer in a 265-162 vote. (See BioWorld Today, Aug. 6, 2001, and Nov. 27, 2001.)

Many scientists believe that therapeutic cloning applications could lead to revolutionary therapies for Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, spinal cord injuries, diabetes, heart disease and other debilitating conditions. Others disagree, saying there are other research approaches and therapies available, thus abrogating the need or desire for human embryonic stem cell research. (See BioWorld Today, Apr. 11, 2002, and May 2, 2002.)