A Republican who hopes to unseat democrat Senator Tom Harkin is criticizing Harkin’s past statements about cloning. Republican Congressman Greg Ganske of Des Moines voted in favor of a ban on human cloning when the issue came before the House, and now he’s questioning things Harkin’s said about the procedure. Ganske says Harkin has gone on record of favoring cloning and says Harkin said in the “Chattanooga Times” that he’d see cloning in his lifetime. But Bill Burton, Harkin’s deputy press secretary, says Harkin has authored a bill that would ban human cloning while not shutting down groundbreaking medical research for cures to diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. He says Harkin’s legislation stiffens penalties for anyone who tries to clone a human.Ganske, who’s a plastic surgeon, says there’s no need to “clone” an embryo to conduct research.Ganske says researchers can use fertilized eggs left over from invitro procedures and there’s no need to use the cloning process in medical experiments. U-S Senate leaders have yet to decide which bill on human cloning the Senate will debate. Harkin aides say Ganske and Harkin used to have the same position on the issue, but Ganske’s recently changed.
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