The U.S. House has taken a dangerous step toward obstructing scientific progress in the United States. The House passed a bill Tuesday that intends to ban all cloning of human embryos. The bill was one of two proposals to ban cloning; the other was less restrictive.

Though not expected to survive, the bill passed by a vote of 251 to 176. Support came from all sides of the political spectrum, but the majority of the proponents were Republicans.

The bill has been dubbed the Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2001, and if made into law would forbid cloning of human embryos for any reason.

Cloning human embryos has multiple purposes. The embryos could be used for stem cell research or could potentially be brought to term to create a cloned human baby.

The thought of a cloned human is disconcerting, but that is no reason to make laws against all cloning at this point. Before we start cloning humans, we should make absolutely sure cloning is an exact science, so to speak.

Dolly, the famous cloned sheep, was born only four and a half years ago, and we’re already thinking about cloning humans? It seems like a huge step to take when cloning is still a very new science.

Early last month, The Washington Post reported that mice cloned from embryonic stem cells have shown genetic abnormalities and mutations, even though they carry the same genetic codes. Scientists are unsure whether the same problem would surface in human cloning. But before scientists jump into human cloning and lawmakers start arguing about it, everybody involved should know exactly what is going on and the ramifications.

The House passed a bill because it is afraid of what might happen in the field of cloning. It doesn’t know what cloning will bring for humans, nor do scientists. Lawmakers and society shouldn’t condemn something they don’t understand.

We can’t be governed by the fear of a lunatic who might use science with malicious intent. It sounds like something out of a bad science-fiction movie, not a report from Capitol Hill.

It’s curious the government would be so concerned about a 5-day-old wad of human cells, when animal testing is going on in labs across the country. Since when did a bunch of cells gain the rights of a living, breathing human being, or even that of a fetus?

If this law is passed, it creates a dangerous precedent. Once it’s passed, it’s very difficult to go back on, no matter what evidence might come up in countries where this research is not banned.

At the least, the House could have passed the less restrictive bill, which allowed some cloning, except in cases of reproduction. The current bill is drastic and ill-informed.

Lawmakers make laws and shouldn’t pretend to be scientists. Until more research is done and more results have returned from the labs, they should leave science alone.

Hopefully, the Senate will see the flaws in this bill and reject it. It should take the matter more seriously than the House, whose members seem to have rushed into something they can’t fully grasp.