Topeka ? Two measures sought by some conservatives to restrict cloning research may be dead for the 2007 legislative session.

Hearings on the bills, which had been scheduled for Tuesday before the House Federal and State Affairs Committee, were postponed indefinitely.

Chairman Arlen Siegfreid, R-Olathe, said many committee members had problems with the bills or needed more time to research the issue.

Meanwhile, the committee’s work is stacking up in other areas. Hearings are scheduled before the panel this week on issues dealing with illegal immigrants, abortion, funeral picketing and gambling.

Put on hold was discussion on House Bill 2098, which would define terms related to human cloning, and House Bill 2255, which would prohibit the use of tax dollars for human cloning, which included embryonic stem cell research.

Opponents of the bill prohibiting human cloning said it also would ban therapeutic cloning that uses somatic cell nuclear transfer, which is referred to as SCNT.

The SCNT process transplants DNA into an unfertilized egg to grow stem cells, which are primitive cells that can develop into other types of cells under certain conditions. Researchers say that this process could be used to treat diseases and repair damaged organs.

Officials with the Kansas University Medical Center said banning SCNT would adversely affect research in Kansas. The biotechnology industry also testified against the proposal.

But supporters of the proposed ban, including anti-abortion groups, said the SCNT process is immoral because it destroys a human life once the stem cells are taken out.

Kathleen Ostrowski, legislative director for the anti-abortion group Kansans for Life, said despite the setback, she was confident the bills would advance.

She blamed intense lobbying against the bill from the Stowers Institute and KU for “the misinformation that the lawmakers have received as to how these very modest bills might impact the Kansas biotech industry.”

“We’re firming up information all the time, and we believe it has momentum to go to the (House) floor” for further consideration, she said.