In recent weeks, David S. Rosenthal '59, director of University Health Services and president of the American Cancer Society (ACS), has begun to play a prominent role in the U.S. Senate debate on human cloning.

A January announcement by Richard G. Seed '49 that he plans to open a human cloning clinic in Chicago has caused both Democrats and Republicans to propose anti-cloning legislation.

Last week, the Senate voted against a Republican bill that would have permanently outlawed a process by which the nucleus of a human somatic cell is inserted into an egg cell to create a human embryo.

If implanted into a female uterus, this embryo could be used to create a human clone.

The bill, Senate 1601, was sponsored by Sens. Kit Bond (R-Mont.), Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Judd Gregg (R-N.H.).

Rosenthal voiced the ACS's opposition to the bill in a letter to the Senate on Feb. 9. The letter emphasized the potential of medical research using somatic cell nuclear transfer.

Rosenthal's letter made it clear, however, that "The American Cancer Society agrees with the public that human cloning should not proceed at this time."

Rosenthal told The Crimson, "We just want to make sure [legislation] doesn't go too far in preventing our researchers from doing necessary, basic research."

Rosenthal said cell transfer research is essential to understanding basic illnesses.

His letter, along with those of more than forty national medical organizations, stresses that this process can provide valuable new treatments to diseases such as cancer, diabetes and Parkinson's Disease.

Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Edward M. Kennedy '54-'56 (D-Mass.) led the opposition to the bill. Feinstein opened debate in the Senate by quoting from Rosenthal's letter.

Several Republicans, including Connie Mack (R-Fla.), who has lost several family members to cancer, also opposed the bill, which was voted down in the Senate on Feb. 11.

The debate over human cloning is far from over, however.

While the Senate opposes the cloning of human beings, it is divided on other uses of somatic cell nuclear transfer.

The Senate is now considering legislation proposed by Feinstein and Kennedy that would allow somatic cell nuclear transfer but prohibit any attempts to actually raise human clones for 10 years.

The Kennedy-Feinstein bill faces potential opposition from senators who argue that the creation and destruction of a human embryo, even in a research setting, is analogous to an abortion.

According to Jim Manley, a Kennedy spokesperson, the bill will be debated in either the Senate Judiciary or Labor committees--both of which Kennedy sits on.

The ACS has not developed an official position on the Feinstein-Kennedy proposal, Senate bill 1602, but Rosenthal said he is preparing for members of his organization to testify at the upcoming hearings.

A press release from Kennedy's office emphasizes that the Food and Drug Administration has the power to shut down a clinic, so that cloning is not a danger while legislation is debated.