May 27, 2010 - Tuesday, May 25, the Ohio Senate Health, Human Services & Aging Committee heard final testimony for and against S.B. 243, Ohio's Ban on Human Cloning and Human Animal Hybrids .
This legislation is based on that which has passed in Louisiana and Arizona, and poised to go through in Oklahoma.
Testifying Tuesday were Chris Long, Ohio Christian Alliance (who has spearheaded this effort); Mark Harrington, Center for Bio Ethical Reform; Paula Westwood, Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati; and nationally known scientist Dr. David Prentice from the Family Research Council.
Ohio Right to Life's Mark Lally has also helped with this, as has Barry Sheets with Citizens for Community Values, and Dr. Dennis Sullivan of Cedarville University.
Testifying against the ban Tuesday was James Wells from Cincinnati Children's Hospital and the University of Cincinnati, and Tony Dennis of BioOhio.
Late Wednesday, May 26, State Senator Steve Buehrer introduced a sub-bill of SB 243 which presented a Human-Animal Hybrid Ban as a stand-alone bill. This legislation has bipartisan support, while a ban on human cloning does not.
The sub-bill is slated for a vote early next week in the full Senate.
Animal-human hybrid experimentation is currently legal and being conducted in England. Consequently, bans similar to Ohio's state-level bill have been introduced at the federal level over the past several years by Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-Rep) in the U.S. House, and Senators Sam Brownback (KS-Rep) and Mary Landrieu (LS-Dem) in the U.S. Senate.
It is unknown how many U.S. laboratories are currently conducting some form of human-animal research, but based on testimony against the ban Tuesday, it is clear that researchers want the opportunity to do so to remain open.
As Paula Westwood of Cincinnati Right to Life said in testimony Tuesday, "Despite the fact that simply the desire to genetically mix humans with animals is morally abhorrent, and such experimentation kills human life, the only dangerous principle some scientists appear to be operating under is, 'If we can, we will.'"
Thank you to Chris Long of Ohio Christian Alliance for his continued vigilance for this legislation.
Action: Contact your State Senator and tell them to vote for the S.B.243 Ban on Human-Animal Hybrid experimentation!
