Home>News Center>World
         
 

UN still at odds on human cloning
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-20 10:52

After four years of bitter debate, a United Nations committee voted to ban all forms of human cloning -- a ruling that many member states immediately vowed to ignore.

Many had hoped the political and ethical struggle over human cloning would lead to an acceptance of medical research with human embryos, which could advance the fight against debilitating diseases such as Alzheimer's.

But the non-binding vote by the committee will now be referred to the UN's General Assembly amid sharp international disagreement over the meaning of human life and what is ethical in the name of medical research.

A deeply divided UN legal committee adopted a non-binding resolution calling on world governments to ban all forms of cloning, despite widespread support for cloning of embryos for medical research.

The administration of US President George W. Bush had strongly backed the ban, arguing that the destruction of human life involved -- embryos are destroyed after providing the raw genetic material -- is immoral.

Many scientists say cloning research could unlock the secrets of hundreds of debilitating diseases including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and spinal cord injuries.

Critics of the ban say that the entire world is opposed to cloning aimed at reproducing individual humans, and that US-led opposition to all forms of cloning has simply made it easier to flout such principles.

Belgium, which wanted to see the restrictions eased in hopes of paving the way for cloning research, vowed to snub the UN ruling, as did Britain.

"This is a weak, non-binding political statement. The number of states that failed to support it is greater than the number that backed it," British UN ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said in a statement.

"We have lost the opportunity for an international ban on the abhorrent prospect of reproductive cloning because of the intransigence of states whose action serves only to hold back medical research," he said.

Britain also said it would keep up therapeutic cloning, "which will continue to be permitted in the United Kingdom."

But a coalition of US groups hailed the decision. "This declaration represents a significant step forward in advancing respect for human life," the group said.

"Cloning opponents welcomed the UN's resolution and look forward to member states fulfilling their international obligations," it said.



 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

Beijing opposes US-Japan statement on Taiwan

 

   
 

Eight suicide bombings in Baghdad kill 55

 

   
 

Building harmonious society CPC's top task

 

   
 

Experts cry for checking before marriage

 

   
 

Industrial growth rate drops slightly

 

   
 

Bush harbors no bitterness toward Chirac

 

   
  Chief UN spokesman to step down in June
   
  Bush harbors no bitterness toward Chirac
   
  UN still at odds on human cloning
   
  Gunmen take Haiti ex-Prime Minister from prison
   
  Italians march to demand release of the kidnapped
   
  Eight suicide bombings in Baghdad kill 55
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
Cloning experiment shows cancer reversible
   
Experts demand human cloning proof
   
US doctor claims to clone human embryo
   
China draws policy on human cloning
   
China draws policy on human cloning
   
Calf-cell cloning called cutting-edge
   
Government supports ban on people copies
  News Talk  
  Are the Republicans exploiting the memory of 9/11?  
Advertisement