UN Committee Split Over Treaty to Ban Human Cloning

[Murray Charters <mcharters@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

UN Committee Split Over Treaty to Ban Human Cloning
Peter Heinlein - United Nations
06 Nov 2003, 21:25 UTC

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The U.S. drive to enact a broad global ban on human cloning has suffered a 
severe setback at the United Nations. The
cloning issue has deeply divided the world body.

By a 80-79 vote, the General Assembly's legal committee passed a motion to 
delay consideration of a treaty banning
human cloning until 2005. The motion was sponsored by Iran on behalf of the 
57-nation Organization of Islamic
Conference.

The vote effectively derails a U.S.-led campaign to draft a treaty that would 
prohibit all forms of human cloning,
including medical research on stem cells.

It also reveals a deep split within the world body on the cloning issue.

The U.S. and Costa Rican proposal calling for drafting an anti-cloning treaty 
had nearly 50 co-sponsors, and was
expected to pass easily. But it is fiercely opposed by many in the scientific 
community, who argue there is a need for
therapeutic cloning for research and medical purposes.

A rival resolution sponsored by Belgium and supported by Britain, France, and 
Germany, among others, would have banned
only the cloning of babies.

After the vote, Deputy U.S. Representative James Cunningham said he was 
disappointed that countries opposing a total
ban had used a technicality to derail the will of a majority of the 
international community.

"It is particularly regrettable that it was by only one vote that we will be 
prevented from formally registering that
more than 100 members of the Untied Nations favor the pursuit of the goal, of a 
total ban on human cloning," he said.

The vote effectively puts off for two years any work on drafting an 
international treaty banning human cloning.

Several European diplomats regretted that the vote leaves the issue of cloning 
in limbo. But as one Belgian diplomat
told reporters afterward, it may be better not to push forward on drafting a 
comprehensive treaty at a time when the
world, and even the scientific community, is so deeply divided on the question.

SOURCE: Voice of America


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