On April 19, UK Health Secretary Alan Milburn announced that the government is bringing forward legislation that would ban human reproductive cloning. The move, which effectively strengthens the current regulatory situation in which the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (London) will not license the use of nuclear transfer technology for human reproduction (Nat. Biotechnol. 19, 192, 2001), would still allow cell nuclear replacement techniques for research purposes, or therapeutic cloning. Meanwhile, in the US, senators Sam Brownback (R-Kan) and Dave Weldon (R-Fla) have introduced the Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2001, a bill that would ban any research involving human embryos—whether federally funded or private—with penalties of up to $1 million fine or 10 years in prison. While Carl Feldbaum, president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO; Washington, DC) says BIO opposes human reproductive cloning, he reaffirms support for therapeutic cloning of human cells for use in disease research and regenerative medicine, and is keen that any cloning legislation be carefully crafted to distinguish between the two.