The US House of Representatives has moved to ban all types of embryo cloning, passing a new Bill that blocks both reproductive cloning and cloning for research.
It is not yet law but the decision has the potential to thwart the development of life-saving treatments.
The Representatives were rightly trying to prevent human reproductive cloning, an undertaking almost universally rejected by the public, medical practitioners and scientists alike. In the process, however, they also apparently banned therapeutic cloning, a method used in the lab to make "artificial" embryos.
Scientists are excited about embryo research because embryos contain stem cells, a cell form that has the potential to become any type of body tissue. Researchers are trying to find the protein triggers that can transform a stem cell into bone or liver or heart tissues in the hope of finding cures for degenerative diseases.
Embryos, however, are also nascent humans, potential life that could produce a child. Those seeking to participate in embryo research have, as a result, become caught up in the quagmire of ethical issues linked to abortion, experimentation on humans and when life begins.
There is no doubt the US badly needs a ban on human reproductive cloning given claims by a number of groups that they are ready to offer this "service" to those who can pay. A private group of respected scientists announced last January that they would be in a position to clone a human within the next two years.
Perhaps more chilling were announcements last March that a sect called the Raelians, who claim regular contact with space aliens, had the finance, experts and volunteers ready to clone a human. They say they would bring a dead child "back to life" through cloning.
There is no doubt that given time and money, some group will try to become the first to clone a human, no matter what the consequences, and it is this eventuality that Congress is attempting to block. The House Bill must still be put before the Senate.
The House rejected an amendment which would have permitted embryo cloning for stem-cell research.
There may be some room to manoeuvre given the fact that therapeutic embryo cloning isn't actually cloning at all. A clone is a copy but the technique does not involve copying embryos. Instead the DNA from an individual is fused with an empty egg cell. When treated in a particular way the new cell can be converted into a dividing embryo, which can then be used for research.
This technique holds much promise in terms of disease treatment. In the context of transplantation this approach would eliminate the risk of tissue rejection. The DNA donor and transplant recipient would be the same person, giving a perfect tissue match every time.
The Democrat-led Senate is expected to give the Human Cloning Prohibition Bill a rough ride. It remains to be seen whether a fresh amendment will open up the potential for therapeutic cloning.