Monday, October 13, 2003
Prospects dim for a world ban on cloning
A drive for a global ban on live-birth cloning by the United Nations has stalled after contending parties failed to compromise. A proposal to ban all cloning, proposed by Costa Rica and the United States and supported by about 40 countries, has clashed with a proposal to ban live-birth cloning immediately but to leave "therapeutic" cloning unregulated. The second proposal is supported by 14 countries, including a number of European nations and Japan, Brazil and South Africa.
The US spokesman in the negotiations, Ann Corkery, argues that an international agreement which allows cloning for research "would essentially authorise the creation of a human embryo for the purpose of killing it to extract stem cells, thus elevating the value of research and experimentation above that of a human life." The opposing point of view was expressed by the UK spokesman, Elizabeth Woodson, who spoke of the "enormous promise" of therapeutic cloning. This is the second time that UN debate has reached an impasse on cloning. A French and German proposal foundered last year on
precisely the same issue. A drive for a global ban on live-birth cloning by the United
Nations has stalled after contending parties failed to compromise. A proposal to ban all cloning, proposed by Costa Rica and the United States and supported by about 40 countries, has clashed with a proposal to ban live-birth cloning immediately but to leave
"therapeutic" cloning unregulated. The second proposal is supported by 14 countries, including a number of European nations and Japan, Brazil and South Africa. It now appears impossible to forge a ban of any kind because of the divide.
The US spokesman in the negotiations, Ann Corkery, argues that an international agreement which allows cloning for research "would essentially authorise the creation of a human embryo for the purpose of killing it to extract stem cells, thus elevating the value of research and experimentation above that of a human life." The opposing point of view was expressed by the UK spokesman, Elizabeth Woodson, who spoke of the "enormous promise" of therapeutic cloning. This is the second time that UN debate has reached an impasse on cloning. A French and German proposal foundered last year on precisely the same issue.
A drive for a global ban on live-birth cloning by the United Nations has stalled after contending parties failed to compromise. A proposal to ban all cloning, proposed by Costa Rica and the United States and supported by about 40 countries, has clashed with a proposal to ban live-birth cloning immediately but to leave "therapeutic" cloning unregulated. The second proposal is supported by 14 countries, including a number of European nations and Japan, Brazil and South Africa.
The US spokesman in the negotiations, Ann Corkery, argues that an international agreement which allows cloning for research "would essentially authorise the creation of a human embryo for the purpose of killing it to extract stem cells, thus elevating the value of research and experimentation above that of a human life." The opposing point of view was expressed by the UK spokesman, Elizabeth Woodson, who spoke of the "enormous promise" of therapeutic cloning. This is the second time that UN debate has reached an impasse on cloning. A French and German proposal foundered last year on
precisely the same issue. A drive for a global ban on live-birth cloning by the United
Nations has stalled after contending parties failed to compromise. A proposal to ban all cloning, proposed by Costa Rica and the United States and supported by about 40 countries, has clashed with a proposal to ban live-birth cloning immediately but to leave
"therapeutic" cloning unregulated. The second proposal is supported by 14 countries, including a number of European nations and Japan, Brazil and South Africa. It now appears impossible to forge a ban of any kind because of the divide.
The US spokesman in the negotiations, Ann Corkery, argues that an international agreement which allows cloning for research "would essentially authorise the creation of a human embryo for the purpose of killing it to extract stem cells, thus elevating the value of research and experimentation above that of a human life." The opposing point of view was expressed by the UK spokesman, Elizabeth Woodson, who spoke of the "enormous promise" of therapeutic cloning. This is the second time that UN debate has reached an impasse on cloning. A French and German proposal foundered last year on precisely the same issue.
