For Immediate Release                                       March 4, 1997
 
  MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES
 
  SUBJECT:       Prohibition on Federal Funding
                 for Cloning of Human Beings
 
  Recent accounts of advances in cloning technology, including
  the first successful cloning of an adult sheep, raise important
  questions.  They potentially represent enormous scientific
  breakthroughs that could offer benefits in such areas as
  medicine and agriculture.  But the new technology also raises
  profound ethical issues, particularly with respect to its
  possible use to clone humans.  That is why last week I asked
  our National Bioethics Advisory Commission to thoroughly review
  the legal and ethical issues associated with the use of this
  technology and report back to me in 90 days.
 
  Federal funds should not be used for cloning of human beings.
  The current restrictions on the use of Federal funds for
  research involving human embryos do not fully assure this
  result.  In December 1994, I directed the National Institutes
  of Health not to fund the creation of human embryos for research
  purposes.  The Congress extended this prohibition in FY 1996
  and FY 1997 appropriations bills, barring the Department of
  Health and Human Services from supporting certain human embryo
  research.  However, these restrictions do not explicitly cover
  human embryos created for implantation and do not cover all
  Federal agencies.  I want to make it absolutely clear that no
  Federal funds will be used for human cloning.  Therefore, I
  hereby direct that no Federal funds shall be allocated for
  cloning of human beings
 
                                     WILLIAM J. CLINTON
 
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