Topeka ? U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., said he will continue to test the presidential waters and seek bans on human cloning and so-called chimeras.

Of his presidential aspirations, Brownback said: “I’m continuing to make the travels through a number of the early states. There has been a lot of encouragement, but no final decision has been made.”

On bioethics, Brownback said he hoped to lead “a full-scale debate on bioethics” during the first half of next year.

He has filed legislation seeking to ban creations that are the result of scientific research in which human and animal cells are combined. Brownback calls these chimeras.

“This is going to be a big, big issue for us to discuss, on whether we change the course of human genetics or not,” he said.