A legal committee of the United Nation's General Assembly began last week to draft a UN resolution that would ban human reproductive cloning and impose criminal penalties under international law. A working group has been established that will look at the legal issues that need to be covered in order...
The Australian House of Representatives has voted to pass a bill - the Research Involving Embryos Bill - that allows stem cell research to take place on embryos 'left over' from IVF procedures but would also ban human cloning. The vote follows months of intense campaigning from Australian scientists and patient groups...
The South Korean government has finalised a bill that would ban all forms of human cloning - reproductive or therapeutic. Under the proposed new law, anyone found guilty of a human cloning offence would be sentenced to 10 years in prison. The bill, called the 'Life, Ethics and Safety Measures Bill...
Long term use of the pill may actually cause women to become pregnant more quickly when they stop taking it, contrary to previously held beliefs that it caused a reduction in fertility. A new study, published in the journal Human Reproduction, analysed the pregnancy records of 8500 women. In total...
Scientists in the United States have complained to a Senate subcommittee that because of 'severe restrictions' placed on human embryonic stem (ES) cell research by President Bush, the science is moving 'exceedingly slowly' in America. On 9 August last year, President Bush limited the availability of federal funds for ES...
Several millionaires are said to be queuing up for a new service that will provide details of a person's entire genetic code within a week - for a mere £400,000. Craig Venter, former head of Celera, the US company that produced a draft version of the human genome in February 2001...
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Should the UN be pronouncing on cloning?
by Juliet Tizzard
This week's BioNews reports on a United Nations subcommittee, currently meeting in New York City, which is seeking to pass a worldwide ban on human reproductive cloning. Since the announcement of the birth of Dolly the cloned sheep in February 1997, many nations, as well as regional and international organisations...