UN begins drafting international ban on cloning

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 to make the ban effective.

Plans for the UN resolution banning reproductive cloning began last year when, following claims from Dr Severino Antinori that he was to begin a cloning programme, France and Germany called for a legally binding international treaty. The two countries also want restrictions to be placed on the creation of cloned embryos for research purposes.

In February of this year, UN delegates began talks about the treaty. The US claiming that the French and German proposal did not 'go far enough' and requested that a 'comprehensive and global ban' on all forms of cloning and embryo experimentation should be implemented. At the time, delegates from other UN countries objected to the US proposal on the grounds that cloning for research purposes may have the potential to save many lives.

There is currently broad support from the 190 UN member countries for a ban on reproductive cloning but this is not the case for a full ban on therapeutic cloning research. A number of the countries involved, including the UK, have already passed legislation banning human reproductive cloning and each of them will be allowed to take part in the deliberation and consultation process. However, it could 'take years' before the final version of the treaty is ready to be signed. Latest reports suggest the entire drafting process will be delayed as, after five days of deliberations, no agreement has been reached by the working group on whether therapeutic cloning should be included in the treaty.