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SCIENCE: In Close Vote, U.N. Urges Blanket Ban on Human Cloning

Haider Rizvi

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 18 2005 (IPS) - The United Nations is calling on all member states to take urgent legislative steps to ban all human cloning practices as "they are incompatible with human dignity and protection of human life."

The declaration was adopted by a majority vote Friday following a heated debate in a meeting of the legal committee of the U.N. General Assembly.

Diplomats spent about a week trying to reach an agreement. Many had hoped for a declaration based on consensus, but opposition from certain countries forced a vote. The controversial nature of the cloning issue was evident in the lack of unanimity among member states.

While 71 nations supported the draft for a ban on human cloning, 35 opposed it. Of the 43 who chose to abstain, most said they lacked clarity on the question of the use of therapeutic cloning.

The decision comes after three years of deadlock caused by nations seeking U.N. endorsement for cloning research. Britain, Belgium and Singapore opposed a total ban on cloning, arguing that partial cloning could be useful for advancing various medical treatments.

The United States led the demand for a total ban on human cloning.

Fearing that women could be turned into "egg farms", many delegates insisted that the text of the declaration must be protective of women. The final draft urges member nations to "prevent the exploitation of women in the application of life sciences".

Some delegates also expressed concern that poor women could be targeted for extraction of a vast number of eggs, which could prove to be painful and dangerous.

The declaration also includes a proposal calling for rich nations to fund pressing medical issues such HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. It condemns all applications of genetic engineering techniques that threaten human dignity.

Conservative groups from the United States that for years have been lobbying for a total ban on cloning welcomed the declaration. Many of them saw it as a "clear signal" to countries that encourage the practice of cloning, such as Britain in particular, which has issued two licenses for cloning research.

"The international community is going to have to come to terms with the gravest threat that has ever been posed to humanity," said Nigel Cameron, president of the Institute on Biotechnology and the Human Future, which is part of the NGO Coalition for Ethical Biochemical Research.

Cloning is still in an experimental stage. But according to experts, the possible benefits of cloning research include producing human cells for transplants, repairing damaged tissues, and even finding treatments for genetic diseases like Parkinson’s.

In both reproductive and therapeutic cloning, scientists implant the nucleus of an adult donor cell into an egg whose nucleus has been removed. The egg develops into a blastocyst, a four- or five-day-old embryo consisting of about 250 cells.

For reproductive cloning – in other words, attempting to make an exact genetic copy of a human being – this embryo would be implanted into a woman’s uterus, whereas in therapeutic cloning, the cells are removed and used to grow human tissues.

The declaration calls upon U.N. member nations to prohibit both forms of cloning, although there are no indications that serious attempts have been made to clone an entire human being.

While not legally binding, the declaration carries some weight as a source of moral obligation for those who did not vote in favour.

After the vote, diplomats from Singapore and Belgium said their nations stood against human reproductive cloning, but they would continue cloning research for medical treatment.