UN agrees to draft declaration to ban Human Cloning

On Friday 19th November 2004, United Nations diplomats officially agreed to use a draft declaration created by Italy to prohibit “the creation of human life through cloning” as a basis for discussions on human cloning that would resume in February 2005.

Two main arguments have evolved from the cloning debate; Costa Rica’s total ban on human cloning, and Belgium’s partial human cloning ban. The General Assembly’s legal committee seemed to be heading toward an up-or-down vote between the two, however, on Thursday evening a compromise between the two was reached, which could contain language appeasing both sides.

Of the United Nations’ 191 members, 62 have expressed their support for a ban on all types of human cloning, including reproductive, therapeutic, and research. On the other side of the table, just 22 members, including Britain have agreed with Belgium’s proposed treaty to ban cloning babies, but to allow research cloning for stem cell research.

Italy’s draft declaration called on all nations to “prohibit any attempt at the creation of human life through cloning and any research intended to achieve that aim.”

The Italian declaration contained similar language to the language used by American President George Bush before the Assembly in August, which urged “all governments to affirm a basic ethical principle: No human life should ever be produced or destroyed for the benefit of another.”

Many have been in agreement that an embryo would symbolise human life, but pro-lifers and in particular those that are religious-based have said that personhood begins at conception and lasts until natural death.