After nearly a year of emotional arguments in Congress but no new federal laws, the national debate over the future of human cloning has shifted to the states. Six states have already banned cloning in one form or another, and this year alone 38 anticloning measures were introduced in 22 states.
The resulting patchwork of laws, people on all sides of the issue say, complicates a nationwide picture already clouded by scientific and ethical questions over whether and how to restrict cloning or to ban it altogether.
Since 1997, when scientists announced the birth of Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal, the specter of cloned babies, infants that are in essence genetic carbon copies of adults, has loomed large in the public psyche and in the minds of lawmakers.
Today, there is widespread agreement that cloning for reproduction is unsafe and should be banned. Now, the debate has shifted away from the ethics of baby-making and toward the morality of cloning embryos for their cells and tissues, which might be used to treat diseases. The controversy pits religious conservatives and abortion opponents, who regard embryos as nascent human life, against patients groups, scientists and the biotechnology industry.
參考譯文：
一年來(lái)，國(guó)會(huì)對(duì)于克隆未來(lái)的爭(zhēng)論異常激烈，但卻未催生相應(yīng)法律的誕生?，F(xiàn)在，這一爭(zhēng)論已轉(zhuǎn)移到各州。其中，有6個(gè)州已經(jīng)禁止任何形式的克隆。僅今年一年，就有22個(gè)州采取了高達(dá)38項(xiàng)的反克隆措施。
有關(guān)人士稱，對(duì)于是否以及如何限制克隆，或是全面禁止克隆，涉及諸多的科學(xué)和倫理問(wèn)題。 所以，相應(yīng)的立法修憲問(wèn)題變得更加復(fù)雜。
1997年，科學(xué)家宣布第一只哺乳動(dòng)物克隆羊多莉的誕生。從此，這就在公眾和立法者心里蒙上陰影。這是因?yàn)榭坡∩飳?shí)際上是成年生物的副本。
現(xiàn)在，人們達(dá)成共識(shí)的是，為再生產(chǎn)而進(jìn)行的克隆是不安全的，因此應(yīng)該禁止。當(dāng)前，人們爭(zhēng)論的焦點(diǎn)已不再局限于克隆嬰兒的倫理問(wèn)題。人們的注意已轉(zhuǎn)移到對(duì)胚胎的科隆上來(lái)，盡管由之產(chǎn)生的組織和細(xì)胞有助于治療很多疾病。因?yàn)楸Ｊ氐淖诮倘耸亢蛪櫶シ磳?duì)者認(rèn)為胚胎是早期的生命形式，他們自然與患者、科學(xué)家和生物工業(yè)站在爭(zhēng)論的兩邊。
The resulting patchwork of laws, people on all sides of the issue say, complicates a nationwide picture already clouded by scientific and ethical questions over whether and how to restrict cloning or to ban it altogether.
Since 1997, when scientists announced the birth of Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal, the specter of cloned babies, infants that are in essence genetic carbon copies of adults, has loomed large in the public psyche and in the minds of lawmakers.
Today, there is widespread agreement that cloning for reproduction is unsafe and should be banned. Now, the debate has shifted away from the ethics of baby-making and toward the morality of cloning embryos for their cells and tissues, which might be used to treat diseases. The controversy pits religious conservatives and abortion opponents, who regard embryos as nascent human life, against patients groups, scientists and the biotechnology industry.
參考譯文：
一年來(lái)，國(guó)會(huì)對(duì)于克隆未來(lái)的爭(zhēng)論異常激烈，但卻未催生相應(yīng)法律的誕生?，F(xiàn)在，這一爭(zhēng)論已轉(zhuǎn)移到各州。其中，有6個(gè)州已經(jīng)禁止任何形式的克隆。僅今年一年，就有22個(gè)州采取了高達(dá)38項(xiàng)的反克隆措施。
有關(guān)人士稱，對(duì)于是否以及如何限制克隆，或是全面禁止克隆，涉及諸多的科學(xué)和倫理問(wèn)題。 所以，相應(yīng)的立法修憲問(wèn)題變得更加復(fù)雜。
1997年，科學(xué)家宣布第一只哺乳動(dòng)物克隆羊多莉的誕生。從此，這就在公眾和立法者心里蒙上陰影。這是因?yàn)榭坡∩飳?shí)際上是成年生物的副本。
現(xiàn)在，人們達(dá)成共識(shí)的是，為再生產(chǎn)而進(jìn)行的克隆是不安全的，因此應(yīng)該禁止。當(dāng)前，人們爭(zhēng)論的焦點(diǎn)已不再局限于克隆嬰兒的倫理問(wèn)題。人們的注意已轉(zhuǎn)移到對(duì)胚胎的科隆上來(lái)，盡管由之產(chǎn)生的組織和細(xì)胞有助于治療很多疾病。因?yàn)楸Ｊ氐淖诮倘耸亢蛪櫶シ磳?duì)者認(rèn)為胚胎是早期的生命形式，他們自然與患者、科學(xué)家和生物工業(yè)站在爭(zhēng)論的兩邊。