Human cloning law

The government presented the bill The Law Concerning Regulation Relating to Human Cloning Techniques and Other Similar Techniques (2) to the Diet on April 4, 2000. It was discussed in the Commission for Science and Technology but failed to pass during that session. On November 7, 2000, two different bills were presented to the Diet, one by the government, which was similar to the first one, and the other by the Democratic Party of Japan, which was fundamentally different on some points. The most important parts of the government’s bill are presented below.

The Law Concerning Regulation Relating to Human Cloning Techniques and Other Similar Techniques (Original Version, November 7, 2000)

Article 1 (Purpose of the law) The cloning techniques and other similar techniques ….. could have a severe influence on preservation of human dignity, safety for human life and body, and maintenance of social order. Based upon these understandings, the purpose of this law is to prevent and restrain creation of a human clone individual and an amphimictic individual, and to regulate artificial creation of individuals similar to such individuals set forth herein, by means of prohibiting transfer of embryos produced by the cloning techniques or the Specific Fusion/Aggregation Techniques into a human or an animal uterus, by means of regulating production, assignment and import of such embryos, and by means of taking [3/4] other necessary measures to secure appropriate handling of such embryos.

Article 3 (Prohibited Acts) No person shall transfer a human somatic clone embryo, a human-animal amphimictic embryo, a human-animal hybrid embryo or a human-animal chimeric embryo into a uterus of a human or an animal.

Article 4.....the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology shall prescribe guidelines in relation to handling of Specified Embryos (*See Table 1 p.7).

Supplementary Provisions

Article 2 (Study and Examination) The Government shall, within five years of enforcement of this Law, take necessary measures in accordance with the results of its study and examination of the system of handling Specified Embryos with consideration to the circumstances in which this Law is enforced or to any change of the situation surrounding the cloning techniques and other similar techniques.
* (Translation by the government, except Supplementary Provisions Article 2. Emphases added by Morioka)

The main characteristic of this bill was that it prohibited only the “transfer” of four types of Specified Embryos, including a human somatic clone embryo, into the uterus of a human or an animal. The reason for this prohibition was that the transfer of these embryos leads to the production of an individual with the same genetic structure as another specific individual (in the case of a human somatic clone embryo) or an embryo belonging to a subspecies of humans (in the case of the other three embryos). The bill put the consideration of the “production” of these embryos into future guidelines. It is also worth noting that the bill imposed the penalty of “imprisonment” for violation.

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The Ethics of Human Cloning and the Sprout of Human Life (2004)
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