To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit human cloning.

March 17, 2005

Mr. WELDON of Florida (for himself, Mr. STUPAK, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mrs. MILLER of Michigan, Mr. WOLF, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. CANTOR, Mr. RYUN of Kansas, Mr. MURTHA, Mr. PITTS, Mr. HOSTETTLER, Mr. SULLIVAN, Mr. FERGUSON, Mr. NEUGEBAUER, Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey, Mr. BUYER, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi, Mr. AKIN, Ms. FOXX, Mr. SHUSTER, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. WHITFIELD, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mrs. JO ANN DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. BERRY, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. DELAY, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. BRADY of Texas, Mr. TERRY, Mr. KENNEDY of Minnesota, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. PETRI, Mr. BAKER, Mr. RENZI, Mr. HAYES, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. TANCREDO, Mr. TIAHRT, Mr. GOODE, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. STEARNS, Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina, Mr. MCCOTTER, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. MCHENRY, Mr. NEY, Ms. HART, Mr. KINGSTON, Mr. SKELTON, Mr. MOLLOHAN, Mr. WAMP, Mr. FOSSELLA, Mr. HERGER, Mr. ADERHOLT, Mr. HAYWORTH, Mr. BROWN of South Carolina, Mr. SHADEGG, Mr. GUTKNECHT, Mr. JONES of North Carolina, Mr. LUCAS, Mr. GRAVES, Mr. GINGREY, Mr. BOUSTANY, Mr. WALSH, Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mr. WESTMORELAND, Mr. THORNBERRY, Mr. MCCAUL of Texas, Mr. BISHOP of Utah, Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. POMBO, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. EHLERS, Mr. PENCE, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas, Mrs. CAPITO, Mr. WICKER, Mr. EVERETT, Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin, Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky, Mr. PICKERING, Mr. FORBES, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. WELLER, Mr. FITZPATRICK of Pennsylvania, Mr. MARSHALL, Mrs. CUBIN, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. PLATTS, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. ROGERS of Michigan, Mr. INGLIS of South Carolina, Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. CRENSHAW, and Mr. HALL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit human cloning.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2005'.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON HUMAN CLONING.

(a) In General- Title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting after chapter 15, the following:

`CHAPTER 16--HUMAN CLONING

`Sec.

`301. Definitions.

`302. Prohibition on human cloning.

`Sec. 301. Definitions

`In this chapter:

`(1) HUMAN CLONING- The term `human cloning' means human asexual reproduction, accomplished by introducing nuclear material from one or more human somatic cells into a fertilized or unfertilized oocyte whose nuclear material has been removed or inactivated so as to produce a living organism (at any stage of development) that is genetically virtually identical to an existing or previously existing human organism.

`(2) ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION- The term `asexual reproduction' means reproduction not initiated by the union of oocyte and sperm.

`(3) SOMATIC CELL- The term `somatic cell' means a diploid cell (having a complete set of chromosomes) obtained or derived from a living or deceased human body at any stage of development.

`Sec. 302. Prohibition on human cloning

`(a) In General- It shall be unlawful for any person or entity, public or private, in or affecting interstate commerce, knowingly--

`(1) to perform or attempt to perform human cloning;

`(2) to participate in an attempt to perform human cloning; or

`(3) to ship or receive for any purpose an embryo produced by human cloning or any product derived from such embryo.

`(b) Importation- It shall be unlawful for any person or entity, public or private, knowingly to import for any purpose an embryo produced by human cloning or any product derived from such embryo.

`(c) Penalties-

`(1) CRIMINAL PENALTY- Any person or entity that violates this section shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.

`(2) CIVIL PENALTY- Any person or entity that violates any provision of this section shall be subject to, in the case of a violation that involves the derivation of a pecuniary gain, a civil penalty of not less than $1,000,000 and not more than an amount equal to the amount of the gross gain multiplied by 2, if that amount is greater than $1,000,000.

`(d) Scientific Research- Nothing in this section restricts areas of scientific research not specifically prohibited by this section, including research in the use of nuclear transfer or other cloning techniques to produce molecules, DNA, cells other than human embryos, tissues, organs, plants, or animals other than humans.'.

(b) Clerical Amendment- The table of chapters for part I of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to chapter 15 the following:

--301'.

END