U.N. Assembly to debate US and Britain's opposing views on Human Cloning

On 21st October, a UN General Assembly committee representing 191 nations is scheduled to openly debate the drafting of a treaty on human cloning, an issue which has been pending in the assembly since 2001. As human cloning is an ethical issue being debated all over the world among religious bodies, human rights groups, medical professionals and politicians, the debate is expected to draw worldwide concern.

Currently, the treaty will most likely prohibit the cloning of human beings. Since English Professor Ian Wilmut created 'Dolly', the first cloned sheep a few years ago, concerns regarding applying the same technology to human cloning have been rising. The technology may allow scientists to create human beings with desired characteristics. According to the teachings of Christianity, which are based on the Almighty God as the sole Creator of the universe and all creatures, human cloning is an obvious blurring to the situation, and is a potential ethical hazard.

However, recently a dilemma has been raised as to whether to allow the cloning of human embryos for stem cell research. The 191 U.N. members are sharply divided over this issue, known as "therapeutic cloning."

In the case of “therapeutic cloning”, it only involves the cloning of a human embryo in the laboratory, which will be destroyed as soon as the desired embryonic stem cell is yielded from it. These cells can be used to produce specialised body tissues for future transplant operations and have the potential for repairing diseased tissues and organs in a patient without any fear of rejection by the body's immune system.

Advocates of the use of cloned human embryos for research say the technique holds out the hope of a cure for hundreds of millions of people with a wide range of diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes and spinal cord damage.

As one of the elites in science and medical research in the world, Britain has even taken the lead in advocating “therapeutic cloning” by granting the first license for “therapeutic cloning” in Europe to the Newcastle University, England, in August.

Therefore, it seems that the British authorities have taken the stance of wanting a ban on the cloning of babies, just as what would be suggested by the treaty of UN, but they urge for a ground to allow limited cloning for stem cells.

America, however, holds a different viewpoint. President George Bush has asked countries to vote for a convention proposed by Costa Rica banning all forms of human cloning, both reproductive cloning - which could result in the birth of cloned babies - and therapeutic cloning. He justifies the position on the ground that "destroying a life in order to save a life" is morally unjustified.

The Science Academy of the Royal Society in England is leading the opposition against President Bush’s proposal. Lord May of Oxford, the president of the Royal Society, urged countries to back a second proposal by Belgium to ban reproductive cloning while allowing therapeutic cloning - the current legal position in Britain.

While Lord May believes that the United States should be allowed to decide whether therapeutic cloning should be outlawed within its borders, he added, "But other countries, including the UK, have now passed legislation to allow carefully regulated therapeutic cloning while introducing a ban on reproductive cloning. Consequently, there is no way that these countries can sign up to the complete ban that President Bush has advocated. Many other countries have also indicated that they would not sign up to such a convention.”

A text by Costa Rica and the United States denounces cloning in any form as "unethical, morally reproachable and contrary to due respect for the human person" and instructs treaty writers to draft a document banning the practice.

The Vatican, in a position paper issued last Wednesday, said therapeutic cloning was even worse than reproductive cloning. In therapeutic cloning, "one uses the newly produced human being as mere laboratory material,"it said.