ESHRE maintains human cloning ban

BioNews reporting from ESHRE conference, Copenhagen: The European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE), which is holding its annual conference in Copenhagen this week, has renewed its moratorium on human reproductive cloning.

ESHRE began a five-year voluntary moratorium on the cloning of human babies in 1999, in response to developments in animal cloning and fears that these skills could be transferred and used in attempts to clone humans. At last year's ESHRE conference, at the end of the five years, the organisation, which represents more than 4000 international fertility experts, renewed the moratorium. Now, the Executive Committee has decided to continue the moratorium for at least a further year, saying that in the light of data from animal cloning, it would be 'totally irresponsible, as well as unethical, to start human reproductive cloning'.

Guido Pennings, co-ordinator of ESHRE's ethical committee, said that there would be 'major practical problems' before success in human reproductive cloning would be possible, adding that 'not least of which is the high chance of abnormal babies, even if abnormalities are not apparent at birth'. He added that there would also be important ethical objections to cloning, saying that 'the deliberate generation of clones could infringe upon the dignity and integrity of human individuals by increasing genetic determinism and restricting autonomy and individuality at both a psychological and societal level'.

The current chairman of ESHRE, Professor Arne Sunde, said that he thought the publicity given to human reproductive cloning, even though no-one has so far successfully attempted it, had a damaging effect on the world of fertility research as a whole. He went on to say that focus on reproductive cloning drew attention away from 'therapeutic cloning', where a patient's cell is cloned to make stem cells that can be used to treat them, without fear of immune system rejection. Scientists hope that developing this research may eventually lead to treatments, and possibly cures, for a wide range of diseases, including Parkinson's disease and diabetes. 'ESHRE supports cloning for therapeutic purposes', he said, adding 'it is vital if we are to develop potential new treatments for serious human diseases'.