WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush on Monday decried a research company's claim to have cloned a human embryo for the first time. "We should not, as a society, grow life to destroy it," Bush said.

The president told reporters during a Rose Garden appearance that the reported breakthrough by a Massachusetts research firm was "morally wrong, in my opinion."

Bush had stated his opposition to such research and said Monday that he hasn't changed his position.

"The use of embryos to clone is wrong," he said. "We should not, as a society, grow life to destroy it, and that's exactly what is taking place."

Presidential spokesman Ari Fleischer said the work of Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, Mass., amounts to human cloning and lays bare "the conundrum of scientific progress, where progress can also be measured in terms of how many lives will be taken to save a life. That's something the president has drawn a strong ethical line in the sand on and said that line should not be crossed."

Advanced Cell Technology announced Sunday that its researchers had cloned a six-cell embryo in hopes of developing genetically compatible replacement cells for patients with a range of illnesses.

The Massachusetts company's lab procedure would be banned under anti-cloning legislation passed earlier this year by the House but stalled in the Senate.

Bush "hopes that as a result of this first crossing of the line - and the first step into a morally consequential realm of creating a life to take a life in the name of science - that the Senate will act on the House legislation so that this procedure can be banned," Fleischer said.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle has no plans to rush a ban on human cloning through Congress, despite the view of some lawmakers that a federal law must be enacted soon to stop fast-moving research.

"A lot of senators want time to think through all the medical and scientific issues involved," Daschle spokesman Doug Hattaway said Monday.

"We don't know who else in the country is working on the issue of human cloning. This needs to be stopped," said Sen. Sam Brownback R-Kan. He held out the threat of delaying other bills until the Senate acts.

House Majority Leader Dick Armey, in a statement, said the announcement by Advanced Cell Technology "should set off a four-alarm wake-up call in the U.S. Senate."

"Let's be clear," said Armey, R-Texas. "We are in a race to prevent amoral, scientifically suspect tinkering with the miracle and sanctity of life."

President Bush also appealed to Congress to act.

The House, by a vote of 265-162, passed a ban on cloning in July, after attempts by some lawmakers to exempt research. The issue was raised in the Senate this month but a showdown was avoided after leaders promised extensive hearings next spring.

The issue delves into the thorny debate of stem cells, which are taken from embryos and can grow into various kinds of tissue. Supporters argue that embryos used in stem cell research - even cloned ones - are not yet humans. Opponents disagree.

President Bush tackled the issue in August by issuing a policy that restricts federally financed stem cell research to the 64 stem cell lines administration officials said already exist. Those stem cell lines were from embryos created by in vitro fertilization. Cloned embryos would not qualify under the Bush policy.

Proponents of cloning have argued that by developing stem cells from a patient, there is less likelihood of rejection from a body's immune system. They add that Congress can ban human cloning without limiting research.

"It really is a horrendous thing to stop this research,'' said Rep. Jim Greenwood, R-Pa., the author of an unsuccessful House bill that would have permitted cloning for research. "These people are treating this issue the way they treated Copernicus and Galileo."

Critics argue that even a cloned embryo is human.

"To manufacture a human being is a terrible human rights abuse,'' said Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J. "Mad scientists are still mad scientists no matter how white their lab coats are and how many bioethicists they hire to justify their actions."

The Vatican also commented, issuing a statement that said, "The beginning of human life cannot be fixed by convention at a certain stage of embryonic development; it takes place, in reality, already at the first instant of the embryo itself."

Company researchers say they cloned the embryo by starting with a donated female egg cell. They removed its nucleus and replaced it with a cumulus cell, complete with its genetic DNA. Cumulus cells normally help nurture eggs as they develop.

In a separate experiment, the researchers say they were able to develop a more advanced embryo, known as a blastocyst, in a process known as parthenogenesis. They bathed an egg cell with chemicals that changed its concentration of charged particles, reprogramming it to form an embryo.

The clones did not live past the six-cell stage. A normal embryo would have to grow several hundred cells before it created stem cells.

WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) - Senate Democratic leaders Tuesday turned back an effort by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) to force an immediate vote on a House-passed bill that would ban human cloning, including research cloning of the type announced Sunday by the Massachusetts biotechnology firm Advanced Cell Technology.

"I've been warning this body for weeks that this issue was going to be here and now it's here," said Brownback as he unsuccessfully attempted to bring up for immediate consideration HR 2505, the bill passed by the House July 31. President Bush on Monday urged the Senate to act on the measure.

Although Brownback was promised a debate on the bill next February or March, after agreeing not to pursue the matter as part of the fiscal 2002 spending bill for the Department of Health and Human Services, he said Sunday's announcement should render the earlier agreement moot.

"This is an issue right on top of us and it needs to be dealt with," he said.

But Brownback's request was blocked by Assistant Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). "This is a very contentious issue,'' said Reid. While he acknowledged that Brownback has strong feelings on the matter, he said, "this is an issue that other people feel just as strongly on the other side."

Among those was Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), who vowed to "go to the mat" to block any bill that bars cloning not intended for reproduction. "What is called 'therapeutic cloning' is not even cloning at all," said Specter. "The purpose is to have stem cells which are compatible with the recipient and will not be rejected."

Brownback then asked for consideration of a measure that would merely place a moratorium on the cloning of embryos for six months. "Most Americans are very uncomfortable with human cloning," he said. "Let's hit the pause button at this point."

But that request was rejected as well. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle told reporters later in the day that while nearly all lawmakers support a ban on cloning intended to produce a baby, "we are not opposed to a therapeutic approach to stem cell research to cure disease. A six-month delay will not save lives and could delay the search for a cure."

No, I'm not against women who've had abortions or women, feeling backed into a corner with no where else to turn, who are thinking about having one right now.... No, I'm not against women at all ~ I'm against being told only partial truth ~ I'm against not being told the truth at all...

And by the way, the woman who fought for the right to have an abortion in Roe vs. Wade, now chooses life and is a Pro-Life advocate ~ and that is the truth.

I'm against organizations such as Planned Parenthood who claim to be "pro-choice" and yet don't give women a REAL "choice" by providing ALL the facts and choices and help available... I'm against the abortion pill RU486... "simply take this one little pill, go home all alone, spend 3 days sick.... and if it gets too bad.... go to the emergency room at the nearest hospital. I'm against the nightmare called "partial birth abortion" which, by all rights should be called "murder." I'm against the cosmetic companies using "placenta" in their products that comes from abortion mills.... For that matter, I'm against animal testing too....

I'm against cloning human fetal tissue in the name of science... Hey, you and I were once a little piece of human fetal tissue too... When I was a kid of around 4 years old ~ scientists had a "theory" that we dream in black and white... Even then, from my own remembered dreams, I knew that wasn't true... Scientists now know we dream in full color... I wonder how long it will take them to admit that their "theory" that cloning human fetal tissue isn't cloning a human being is wrong too... And what will happen before they admit that they're wrong...

And I'm against the words that I heard when growing up, "Its ok to have an abortion before "it" becomes a baby..." because these words simply aren't true.

With love,

Susan