ABA adopts recommendation opposing government action against researchers using therapeutic cloning methods.

Calling the freedom of scientific inquiry a "cherished principle of both American and international law," the largest law group in the US has gone on record opposing Federal government action against scientists who conduct research using nuclear somatic transfer or therapeutic cloning.

After considerable debate, the 408,000 member American Bar Association (ABA) went on record for the first time expressing concern about the Bush administration's support of a total ban on human cloning - reproductive and therapeutic. The group backed off issuing a complete endorsement of therapeutic cloning, as some members had wanted while implicitly opposing cloning for reproductive purposes.

"The course upon which the law embarks regarding this field of research will be critical to helping either protect or diminish the freedom of scientific inquiry in the future," the ABA policy report said. "It is therefore critical that the ABA act now to help shape that course in a manner that appropriately preserves this freedom."

The ABA's governing body adopted the following resolution on August 13: "RESOLVED, that the American Bar Association supports the freedom to pursue scientific knowledge for the improvement of human health and opposes governmental actions that would a) prohibit scientific research conducted for therapeutic purposes, including research involving cell nucleus transfer that is not intended to replicate a human being; or b) penalize individuals or research entities that participate in such research, provided that such research is conducted in conformity with accepted scientific safeguards."

Passage of a recommendation lays the groundwork for the ABA to begin lobbying for legislation legalizing therapeutic cloning at the federal and state level, Robin Shapiro, an attorney for Michael Best & Friedrich in Milwaukee told Transplant News.

Shapiro, a member of the ABA's Special Committee on Bioethics and the Law, said the association is now in a position to advocate legislation protecting scientists who conduct research using therapeutic cloning methods at both the state and federal level.

"It is our hope that the resolution will raise the consciousness about the legal issues and hopefully get the legal profession and the American public to think about the issues of scientific freedom," Shapiro explained.

The report argues that current federal regulations exist to safeguard therapeutic cloning and prohibit reproductive cloning. For example, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has regulatory authority, which requires protocol review and approval by institutional review boards (IRBs) on all research involving products it regulates.

The FDA has claimed it already has regulatory authority human cloning under its authority to regulate medical products. "Given the serious physical risks posed by reproductive cloning, however, it is highly unlikely that an institutional review board would approve any such research," the ABA report said.

The report concluded: "Debate about the complex issues surrounding emerging scientific capabilities is inevitable and important. Governmental restraints or punishment of scientists who contribute to our growing body of knowledge, within applicable regulatory safeguards, is a separate matter, for which lawyers have special responsibility. In light of pending legislative proposals that would criminalize research involving therapeutic nucleus transfer, it is critical for the American Bar Association to establish, at this time, its opposition to governmental action that would prohibit scientific research conducted for therapeutic purposes that conforms with accepted scientific research safeguards."

Most experts do not believe congress will pass any cloning legislation this year. ABA Web site: www.abanet.org