BIO Welcomes Verification of Dolly's Cloning, Stands by Ban on Human Cloning

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 22, 1998) - Carl B. Feldbaum, president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) today issued the following statement on the announcement by the Roslin Institute of Edinburgh, Scotland of research verifying that Dolly the sheep was the product of somatic cell nuclear transfer cloning:

"BIO is not surprised to learn that the Roslin Institute has verified the origins of Dolly the sheep as a product of cloning," said BIO President Carl B. Feldbaum. "This is a fine example of the scientific process at work - a bold experiment with great potential for improving human health, followed by checking and rechecking the scientific findings. As President Clinton's National Bioethics Advisory Committee stated in its report to the president in June 1997, '. . . cloning of human DNA sequences and cell lines. . . have already provided important scientific and biomedical advances.'

"While the Roslin Institute's announcement today verifies where we stand on the science of cloning, it changes nothing about the biotechnology industry's position on the ethics of cloning. While this technology can be put to use to clone sheep and mice for research purposes and for the production of new biopharmaceutical products, BIO stands against the use of this technology to clone human beings. We stand by the moratorium on human cloning as we have from the time it was first proposed by President Clinton. Equally vital is to recognize and understand that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has jurisdiction over any activities related to human cloning and has vowed to block any such pursuits. We support that position unequivocally," Feldbaum said.

BIO represents over 790 biotechnology companies, academic institutions and state biotechnology centers in 46 states and 26 countries. BIO members are involved in research and development of health care, agricultural and environmental biotechnology products.