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The source of this article is LifeNews.com: http://tinyurl.com/67sle Bush Administration Still Pushing for UN Cloning Ban, Vote Thursday Bush Administration scrubs UN Speech To Remove Cloning Ban Remarks by Steven Ertelt LifeNews.com Editor November 3, 2003 New York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- President Bush is continuing a push at the United Nations for a proposal that would ban both forms of human cloning -- for both reproductive and research purposes. A vote on the pro-life proposal is expected Thursday. Costa Rica is the prime sponsor of the pro-life resolution and the Bush administration has signed on as a co-sponsor along with dozens of other countries. However, they are opposed by a contingent of two dozen nations -- mostly European. Also, Islamic nations, which favor the total cloning ban, are leaning towards a two-year delay to study the issue further. That's not going over well with the Bush administration. U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte sent letters to representatives of approximately 100 countries that support a total ban. He told them a delay would be "extremely unfortunate" and urged those countries that favor a complete ban to adopt the Costa Rican resolution when it comes up for a vote in the General Assembly's legal committee on Thursday. "There is a need to act now to confront the emerging threat of human cloning," Negroponte said in the letter. Belgium has introduced a competing resolution backed by a group of 23 nations, including France, Germany, Britain, China and Japan. It calls for a ban only on human cloning for reproductive purposes. However, that leaves unanswered the question of research cloning. Pro-life groups oppose such cloning because it allows scientists to destroy human embryos to obtain their stem cells for research. They prefer adult stem cell research and say it is more effective. The Bush administration believes that human cloning is enough of a concern that it warrants a worldwide ban, while the Belgian proposal allows member countries that adopt complete or partial bans. Unfortunately, Islamic nations are apparently seeking to put off a vote to appease both sides rather than standing firm behind the total ban. A group representing 57 Islamic countries has put forward a motion to halt the vote for two years and the contingent led by Belgium has announced it will support such a motion. U.S. Deputy U.N. Ambassador James Cunningham told the Associated Press there was a difference on principle between the 100 nations that oppose both forms of cloning and the small contingent that favors only a partial ban. "Our view, and the view of the hundred or so supporters of the Costa Rican resolution is that it's a question of principle that the ban that we should be working on is total -- and should cover both kinds of cloning," Cunningham explained. He said the 191-member body should take a formal stance against human cloning and to adopt the Islamic or Belgian proposal would create a void with no treaty opposing human cloning. The Vatican supports the pro-life ban and says that hundreds, if not thousands, of human embryos will be destroyed each time scientists attempt to create human clones. The Costa Rica proposal would not ban animal cloning and would set up a committee to draft a final treaty. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn