House Rejects Bill to Ban Human Cloning

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Mostly Republican lawmakers defeated a Democratic bid on Wednesday to outlaw cloning of human babies, concurring with the White House that the effort was flawed and would still permit destruction of life because it would allow embryos to be created for stem-cell research.

"Let's pass a real ban on human cloning, not this phony bill," Republican Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey said in opposing the legislation in the Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives.

The vote was 204-213 as 31 Democrats joined 182 Republicans in voting against it. A two-thirds majority would have been needed to pass the bill.

The White House reaffirmed President George W. Bush's opposition to human cloning. It had threatened to veto the measure, noting the bill would still allow creation of embryos for stem-cell research which requires destruction of human life.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/politics-usa-congress-cloning.html?_r=1&oref=slogin