Grand rounds talk tackles ongoing stem cell debate

Paul Berg equates current Senate debates over therapeutic cloning with debates 25 years ago over recombinant DNA technology. "Then and now, people thought the science violated God's will," Berg said during a grand rounds talk at the medical center May 2.

Berg played an active role in keeping recombinant DNA technology legal, and has testified to Senate committees in opposition to the leading cloning bill, introduced by Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan.

The Brownback bill would make it illegal to clone humans for reproductive purposes; to use cloning techniques to create new stem cell lines for treating health problems such as diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease or spinal cord injuries; or to allow access to therapies that are based on such research even if they were developed in other countries.

"It's so onerous that a group of people in Washington can prevent access to a therapy," Berg said. A competing bill introduced by Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., would ban reproductive cloning but allow therapeutic work based on cloning technology.

Berg warns that banning therapeutic cloning could hold back the U.S. biotech industry, not to mention eliminate one of the most promising avenues of research for several major diseases. "We'll never know which approach is best if we can't do the science," Berg said.