FROM: The New York Times
October 24, 2004 Sunday
SECTION: Section 1; Column 5; Foreign Desk; Pg. 8
HEADLINE: U.S. Stem Cell Policy Delays U.N. Action on Human Cloning
BYLINE: By WARREN HOGE
A United Nations effort to ban the reproductive cloning of human
beings is
being held up for the third straight year by a polarizing argument over
whether
the prohibition should be extended to cover stem cell and other research
known
as therapeutic cloning.
All 191 United Nations members agree on a treaty that would prohibit
cloning
human beings, an idea first proposed in 2001, but they are divided over
whether
to broaden the ban to cover therapeutic cloning.
The Bush administration is aggressively seeking the total ban. That
has set
it against close allies like Britain and much of the world's scientific
establishment, who contend that it would block research on cancer,
Alzheimer's
disease, Parkinson's disease, diabetes, spinal cord injuries, multiple
sclerosis
and other conditions.
The White House says that enough stem cells from human embryos exist
for
research and that cloning an embryo for any reason is unethical.
The United States has thrown its weight behind a resolution offered
by Costa
Rica to outlaw all forms of human cloning as ''unethical, morally
reproachable
and contrary to due respect for the human person.'' Such a global ban
would go
beyond the restrictions put on cloning under American law.
The measure, which was debated Thursday and Friday in the General
Assembly's
legal committee, has 63 cosponsors, most of them Roman Catholic countries
or
nations from the developing world.
Belgium has offered a compromise resolution, cosponsored by Britain
and 19
other countries, that would ban human cloning for reproductive purposes
outright
and would offer nations three options for dealing with therapeutic
cloning --
banning it, putting a moratorium on the practice or regulating it through
national legislation to prevent misuse.
Belgium's representative, Marc Pecsteen, said it was important to
have a ban
on reproductive cloning as soon as possible to crack down on unscrupulous
scientists. ''A compromise formula must be found in a constructive spirit
to
allow consensus,'' he said.
In a brief statement that included three quotations from President
Bush,
Susan Moore, a United States special adviser, told the committee on
Friday, ''A
ban that differentiates between human reproductive and experimental
cloning
would essentially authorize the creation of a human embryo for the
purpose of
destroying it, thus elevating the value of research and experimentation
above
that of a human life.''
She said the United States supported efforts to find breakthrough
treatment
and cures for disease but that it felt scientific progress was possible
without
posing a ''threat to human dignity.''
Opponents contended that by ignoring the fact that there is little
likelihood of a consensus in the United Nations on therapeutic cloning
research
and pushing for a vote, the sponsors of the broader measure were
effectively
destroying the possibility of action on a ban on reproductive cloning on
which
all nations could agreed.
Vanu Gopala Menon of Singapore said progress on achieving that goal
was
being thwarted by countries that had ''adopted an all-or-nothing attitude
and
paralyzed the process.''
One of the most defiant objections came from Britain, whose
ambassador, Emyr
Jones Parry, said that his country was convinced that therapeutic cloning
held
enormous promise for new treatments for serious degenerative conditions
that
were currently incurable. He said that Britain would not sign or be bound
by a
final convention that called for a total ban.
Turkey's representative, Gokcen Tugral, said the 57-member
Organization of
the Islamic Conference was opposed to a vote on either one of the
alternatives,
saying that one side imposing its views on the other in such a polarizing
setting would ''only create a negative atmosphere.''
On Thursday, Secretary General Kofi Annan said that while the issue
was one
for the member states to decide, ''in my personal view, I think I will go
for
therapeutic cloning.''
Last December, Costa Rica backed off pressing for a vote in the
General
Assembly until this year. Thursday, South Korea proposed another year's
delay
and said that an international scientific conference should be held and a
study
should be made of national laws and regulations that govern cloning.
The stem cell dispute has become an issue in the American
presidential race,
with President Bush opposing government financing of any research
involving the
destruction of human embryos, and his Democratic opponent, Senator John
Kerry,
pledging a national campaign in pursuit of embryonic stem cell research.
URL: http://www.nytimes.com
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