Singapore bans reproductive cloning

Singapore has passed a law banning human reproductive cloning, while allowing the practice of cloning human embryos for stem cell research purposes to continue. Anyone who breaches the provisions set in the Human Cloning and Other Prohibited Practices Act will face 10 years in prison for what has been called 'abhorrent experiments', along with a fine of up to 100,000 Singapore dollars. In a previous version of the bill, the penalty for breaking the law was reduced to five years, following complaints from scientists. However, the penalty rose back to ten years as a result of pressure from the public.

The new law, sponsored by the country's health ministry, is one in a series of laws on biomedical research due to be passed, following the splitting-up of a much larger bill, which tried to cover all biomedical issues but ended up being too cumbersome. Of the issues covered, cloning was felt to be the most pressing, so specific legislation was drafted on cloning before the others. 'Human reproductive cloning is the most pressing issue at this time and attracts the greatest ethical concerns', said a health ministry statement. The law bans the placing of any cloned human embryo in the uterus of a woman or of an animal. It also prohibits the import or export of a cloned human embryo, any commercial trading of gametes or embryos and the keeping of an embryo outside the body for more than 14 days.

Singapore has developed a reputation as a 'global hub' for life scientists, in particular stem cell researchers, by having liberal laws and policy on the use of embryonic stem cells (ES cell) in research. It is said to have 'one of the world's most supportive environments' for ES cell research. However, 'there is almost unanimous agreement from the international community, local scientific and religious groups as well as our general public that reproductive cloning of human beings is abhorrent', said Balaji Sadasivan, a junior health minister.

Miodrag Stojkovic, a UK stem cell researcher who recently received the first British licence to isolate stem cells from cloned human embryos, said the limits set by Singapore were good. 'Beyond 14 days you see the start of the primitive streak development', he said, adding 'for harvesting stem cells you only need four, five or six days after fertilisation or nuclear transfer'. The passage of the new law is also significantly timed, as it comes only a few weeks before the United Nations is due to restart its debate on whether an international ban on all forms of cloning, or reproductive cloning only, should be passed. Last November, the UN debate was postponed for a year because of large-scale divisions on the issue between member states. Last week, a number of science academies from countries around the world united to support a UN ban on reproductive cloning only, saying that nations should be allowed to decide on the more contested issue of cloning for ES cell research purposes for themselves.