Dear Colleague:

Despite its vague nature, a UN committee's vote for a non-binding
resolution calling for a ban on human cloning is another step forward for
the international campaign to stop cloning.

Steven W. Mosher
President

PRI Weekly Briefing
25 February 2005
Vol. 7 / No. 8

UN's Step Forward on Human Cloning

By Joseph A. D'Agostino

On February 18, a United Nations committee did a rare thing-rare because
it both involved the United Nations and was good-and recommended that UN
member states ban human cloning.  The language of the resolution has an
unfortunate diplomatic ambiguity to it, but that did not prevent media
organs and public policy organizations from treating it as a call to ban
human cloning generally.  Assuming that the UN General Assembly confirms
the resolution as expected, it is an important public relations victory
for the pro-life cause worldwide as Sen. Sam Brownback (R.-Kan.) prepares
to reintroduce a comprehensive human cloning ban in the U.S. Senate.

The non-binding resolution says, "Member States are called upon to
prohibit all forms of human cloning inasmuch as they are incompatible with
human dignity and the protection of human life."  That can be interpreted
various ways, of course, but that did not stop most of the members of the
UN committee from refusing to vote for it.  The resolution passed 71 to 35
because of a large number of abstentions, 43.  Many UN members wanted a
resolution that would condemn "reproductive cloning" while leaving
"therapeutic cloning" untouched.  Neither a resolution from Costa Rice
advising a total ban on human cloning nor one from Belgium advocating a
ban on reproductive cloning only could get enough support, so compromise
language from Honduras passed instead.  The resolution also recommends
that governments "adopt the measures necessary to prohibit the application
of genetic engineering techniques that may be contrary to human dignity."

Reproductive cloning is cloning with the intention of creating a child who
will be born.  Therapeutic cloning is cloning to use human embryos or
their stem cells in experiments while never allowing them to grow into
fully developed babies.  Thus, therapeutic cloning is cloning to kill, the
creation of human lives in order to end them for the sake of others.

A large proportion of leaders around the world and across the political
spectrum in the United States favor a ban on reproductive cloning.  The
task is to enact a comprehensive human cloning ban that will cover
therapeutic cloning as well.  UN staff summarized well the arguments for a
comprehensive ban in its description of October-November 2004 debate of
the UN's Sixth Committee, which handles legal issues such as this one:

"All speakers continued to favour a ban on the cloning of human beings for
reproductive purposes.  [Some sought] to impose a global ban on the
cloning of human embryos regardless of the purpose, i.e. including a ban
on 'therapeutic' cloning based on embryonic stem-cell research.  This
draft resolution was, inter alia, characterized as being critical for the
protection of the dignity of the human embryo, as well as for the
prevention of the potential exploitation of millions of women whose eggs
would be harvested for purposes of undertaking research [particularly in
the Third World]. . . . It was maintained that those supporting a partial
ban were making an untenable distinction between reproductive and
so-called 'therapeutic' cloning, which were essentially the same, with the
only difference being the end goal.  A ban differentiating between human
reproductive cloning and 'experimental' cloning would, in effect,
authorize the creation of a human embryo for the purpose of destroying it,
thereby instrumentalizing human life."

The International Society for Stem Cell Research has written to all UN
members asking that they vote against the resolution, saying it would
"fail to clearly distinguish the difference between unethical reproductive
cloning and ethical and valuable therapeutic cloning."  In case you did
not know, the only demonstrable "value" of therapeutic cloning to date has
been to generate large research grants for greedy researchers.  Embryonic
stem cell research has not produced a single effective therapy.  All
effective stem cell therapies have come from adult stem cells, which are
obtained without killing people.


Supporters of a comprehensive ban hope that its time has finally come.
With President Bush and the U.S. House already on record in favor, the
legislative obstacle is the usual one, the U.S. Senate.  However, the
Senate has become more pro-life since the November elections.  "I am
extremely encouraged that the international community has made such a
strong statement today in support of protecting innocent human life and
human dignity," said Brownback the day of the committee vote.  "Human
cloning is the deliberate creation of a human life for utilitarian
purposes. . . . The House of Representatives has twice passed legislation
to ban human cloning, and the President supports such a ban.  In the
coming weeks I will be reintroducing my legislation to ban human cloning,
and it is my hope that the Senate will pass the ban this year."

Some countries did not waste any time in rejecting the UN committee's
advice.  Britain, Belgium, China, and South Korea have indicated that they
will continue their cloning experiments.  Britain has even licensed Ian
Wilmut, who created the Dolly the sheep clone, to clone people.  Prof.
Richard Gardner said in representing the Royal Society, "While it is
frustrating and disappointing that the UN committee has voted for an
ambiguous and badly-worded political declaration, this will have no effect
on the use of therapeutic cloning in Britain."

Still, the pro-life movement has gained a little more ground.  The
resolution "is a powerful message to the world community that this morally
questionable procedure is outside the bounds of acceptable
experimentation," said Austin Ruse, president of the Catholic Family and
Human Rights Institute.  "This should encourage similar bans in
legislatures around the world, including in the U.S. Senate."
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