Thursday, September 20, 2007
Bill - Hon. Lucky Guy B. La Torre
Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE
THIRD YOUTH CONGRESS
Third Youth Congress
Baguio City
First Regular Session
Introduced by Honorable Lucky Guy B. La Torre
AN ACT
PROHIBITING HUMAN REPRORODUCTIVE CLONING AND LEGALIZING
HUMAN THERAPEUTIC CLONING.
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:
Section 1. Title "This act shall be known as the "Human Cloning Act of 2007."
Section 2. Declaration of Policy - Being a pro-life institution in the country, State, values the dignity of every human person and guarantee a full respect for human rights . The state recognizes the sanctity of family life, and is committed to protect and strengthen the family as a basic autonomous social institution.
On the other hand, the government shall seek and provide a way to protect its people from the spread of diseases , that is why, this bill is pushing for the legalizing of Human therapeutic Cloning, for it provides a way to cure life threatening diseases.
Towards this end, the government must and shall ban the conduct of human reproductive cloning for it would involved hundreds of damage pregnancies to achieve one single cloned baby. The dignity of human life and genetic uniqueness we all have would be attacked if reproductive cloning will take place and since every human being has intrinsic dignity worth which must be preserved, respected, and safeguarded.
Section 3. Prohibition - It shall be unlawful to conduct or undertake reproductive cloning in the Philippines , even on an experimental basis. Whereas, therapeutic cloning will be legalized as a mean to prevent and cure diseases.
For purposes of this act, human reproductive cloning is cloning of an embryo for the purpose of initiating pregnancy derived from a single individual. Human therapeutic cloning, on the other hand, involves the creation of embryos through somatic cell nuclear transfer for research in disease treatment or prevention.
Section 4. Penalty - Any person who violates this act shall be punished, upon conviction, by a fine not less than Fifty Thousand Pesos (P50,000) nor more than Five Hundred Thousand Pesos (P500,000), or by imprisonment of not less than Five (5) years nor more that Ten (10) years, or both such fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the court. If the violation is committed by a corporation or association, its President, Manager, Director or head shall be made liable therefore. If the violation is committed by an alien, he/she shall fully serve the sentence and pay the fine, and thereafter he/she shall be deported immediately without further proceedings, and shall be barred from entry to the country.
Section 5. Implementing Rules and Regulations - Within sixty (60) days from the effectivity hereof, the Department of Health in coordination with the Department of Science and Technology shall issue the rules and regulations necessary for the effective implementation of this Act.
Section 6. Repealing clause - All laws, decrees, orders, rules, and regulations or any part thereof which are inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed or amended accordingly.
Section 7. Effectivity clause - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after complete publication in any two (2) national newspapers of general circulation.
Approved,
Republic of the Philippines
THIRD YOUTH CONGRESS
Baguio City
First Regular Session
HOUSE BILL NO.___
Introduced by Honorable Lucky Guy B. La Torre
EXPLANATORY NOTE
This bill seeks to prohibit human reproductive cloning and legalize human therapeutic cloning.
The advent of human cloning technology or somatic cell nuclear transfer (SNT) has thrust policymakers into the scientific world of genetics research. The debate over ethical and legal issues surrounding the use of cloning for reproductive purposes has led to accompanying public discussion of stem cell research. While this discourse has alerted Americans of the growing role of genetics in health care, it also not surprisingly has generated much confusion. Policymakers can help to guide the learning process and understanding of the potential uses, benefits and risks of reproductive and therapeutic cloning.
As researchers gain experience with the use of SNT, reproductive cloning, or the cloning of a human embryo for the purpose of initiating a pregnancy, may someday become a reality. SNT involves the removal of genetic material (or nucleus) from an adult’s somatic cell—or any cell in the human body other than sperm cells in men and egg cells in women such as a skin cell. The nucleus taken from the somatic cell then is transferred to a woman's egg cell, from which the nucleus has been removed. Through proper stimulation, the egg cell develops into an embryo, which doctors then can implant into a woman's uterus. If the procedure leads to a live birth, the resulting human being inherits one person's genetic material, that of the individual from which the somatic cell was taken.
Therapeutic cloning on the other hand involves the creation of embryos through SNT for research in disease treatment or prevention can be easily distinguished from reproductive cloning in that the intended use of the embryos is for research for than to initiate a pregnancy. Therapeutic cloning provides access to large numbers of embryos for the purpose of stem cell research, an attractive option for scientists given that embryos are a rich source of stem cells. The creation of embryos for stem cell research, however, raises ethical concerns for some individuals who object to the destruction of embryos on religious or moral grounds. Others note that stem cell research offers hope to people who suffer from disorders like Parkinson disease for which the potential benefits of stem cell research are thought to be substantial.
A federal bill to ban human cloning passed the House of Representatives in August 2001 but has not seen any action since that time. Several bills to ban reproductive cloning, therapeutic cloning or both were subsequently introduced, but none of these bills has passed either chamber at the time of publication of this brief. In the midst of the federal debate, a panel formed by the National Academy of Sciences released its recommendation to prohibit reproductive cloning but permit therapeutic cloning.
Australia had prohibited human cloning, though as of December 2006, a bill legalizing therapeutic cloning and the creation of human embryos for stem cell research passed the House of Representatives. Within certain regulatory limits, and subject to the effect of state legislation, therapeutic cloning is now legal in Australia.
The British government introduced legislation in order to allow licensed therapeutic cloning in a debate in January 2001 after an amendment to the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Act 1990. However on 2001 a prolife group won a High Court legal challenge that effectively left cloning unregulated in the UK. Their hope was that Parliament would fill this gap by passing prohibitive legislation. The government was quick to pass legislation prohibiting reproductive cloning Human Reproductive Cloning Act 2001. The remaining gap with regard to therapeutic cloning was closed when the appeals courts reversed the previous decision of the High Court. Currently therapeutic cloning is allowed under license from the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority . The first license was granted on August 11, 2004 to researchers at the University of Newcastle to allow them to investigate treatments for diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimers disease.
Thus due to the foregoing considerations, this representation believes that at this time, it is morally acceptable for anyone in the public or private sector whether in a research or clinical setting, to attempt to clone a human being for a treatment of a certain disease by using human therapeutic cloning. Equally if someone has made a great contribution to science, music, the arts or literature, it seems like a good idea to produce more of them in the hope that we might benefit even more from what would effectively be a much longer working life. What is more, human therapeutic cloning could produce a tissue match for treatment of a life-threatening disease.
In view of the foregoing, approval of this bill into law at the earliest possible time is our paramount concern.
LUCKY GUY B. LA TORRELabels: justice
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