The members of the UN Commission on Human Cloning did not reach a conclusion on a draft international convention that would ban cloning. Diplomatic sources at the UN said that after five days of discussions behind closed doors, a Franco-German proposal to speed up the approval of the treaty was not approved, mainly because of the demand of the US and the Vatican to ban any type of cloning. The Voice of Israel reported that other countries
The UN will decide: Is it permissible to clone humans?
The organization's steering team put forward a proposal that cloning be banned in its member states; If the legislation is approved, it will take effect within a year; Experts: The UN has never intervened in bioethical issues, this is an unusual step
25/9/2002
A special UN steering team proposed that human cloning be banned in the organization's 190 member states, a step that, according to experts, is unprecedented in the institution's 57-year history. "This is of extraordinary importance," said George Enns, professor of ethics at Boston University, to the "USA Today" website, "especially due to the fact that the United Nations has never before intervened in bioethical issues."
The push for an international ban on cloning began as early as August 2001, when an Italian doctor named Severino Antinori revealed that 700 couples had signed up for the first baby cloning experiment he initiated. Antinori received his medical publication after helping a 62-year-old woman become a mother through egg donation in the early 90s. According to him, about a thousand women have become mothers through the fertility treatment he developed. "The cloning project will give millions of people the opportunity to gain fertility," he said.
Earlier this year Panos Zavos, Antinori's research partner, announced that the series of experiments would be launched soon. About a year ago, the UN established the steering team to examine the issue of cloning. If the team approves the proposal, in a year the UN General Assembly will be able to vote on the issue and approve the ban on cloning. Enforcement of a uniform international law will prevent the transfer of unauthorized laboratories from country to country.
Scientists have so far condemned the cloning of human embryos, due to the fear of deformities and abortions. Opponents of the proposal claim that no country has the right to breed babies. They rely on the results of attempts to clone animals, some of which ended successfully, such as the cloning of Dolly the sheep. Sheep, mice and other infants were cloned using the technique of transplanting cell nuclei of an adult into the donor egg, and fusing them. "The process is both dangerous and experimental," said Randolph Wicker, one of the founders of the Society for Clone Rights in New York. "But I think that those who are aware of the dangers - have the right to take the risk."
