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FROM: Kansas City Star http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/9999429.htm?1c Posted on Sun, Oct. 24, 2004 Global action sought by U.S. against cloning Proposed U.N. ban includes embryonic stem cell research By MAGGIE FARLEY Los Angeles Times UNITED NATIONS — The Bush administration is leading a campaign at the United Nations for a global treaty banning embryonic stem cell research and all forms of human cloning. Critics fear that the United States' move to create a U.N. treaty for a universal ban might undermine efforts to find cures for such afflictions as cancer, diabetes and spinal cord damage. While all countries at the United Nations oppose cloning to create a human being, the international body is starkly divided on whether to ban cloning of human embryos for stem cell studies or other medical research, known as therapeutic cloning. The United States, Costa Rica and 59 other mostly small nations with strong Catholic or Muslim majorities contend that medical research involving cloning results in the taking of human life. Their draft to ban all human cloning, which was the subject of debate before a General Assembly committee last week, terms it “unethical and morally reproachable.” Nearly 130 nations, including close U.S. allies such as Britain, Japan and India, say that each nation should be allowed to decide for itself whether to regulate therapeutic cloning. “No country has the right to seek to impose on the rest of the world a ban on therapeutic cloning, when its own legislature won't impose the ban nationally,” said British ambassador Emyr Jones Parry. Jones Parry noted that therapeutic cloning uses technology similar to in vitro fertilization, which has helped people create families. Unused embryos can be donated to science instead of being destroyed, and stem cell banks can be established to reduce the need for the creation of new lines, he said. Roberto Tovar, Costa Rica's minister of foreign affairs and worship, countered Thursday that “cloning reduces the human being to a mere object of industrial production and manipulation.” He warned that women could be exploited as egg-making “factories,” and that the international community must not allow human embryos to be destroyed for scientific experiments. The United Nations in 2001 began considering a global convention banning human cloning, but it has twice delayed a vote because the issue of stem cell research has been so emotional and divisive. The controversy touches on philosophical and religious issues, involving arguments that can be highly technical as well as passionate and personal. Discussions center on when human life actually begins and whether it is ethical to sacrifice the life embodied in a bundle of undifferentiated cells less than 15 days old to pursue a cure for a living person. President Bush has allowed limited federal funding for studies using a few dozen existing stem cell lines but has prohibited the use of federal money for the creation of any new lines that would involve destruction of human embryos. In his speech to the U.N. General Assembly this year, Bush declared: “No human life should ever be produced or destroyed for the benefit of another.” The Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, backs the aggressive pursuit of stem cell research. On Thursday, Kerry received the endorsement of the widow of actor Christopher Reeves, who said the research could lead to a cure for the spinal cord damage Reeves suffered. A convention against human cloning, if eventually adopted by the General Assembly, would not be legally binding and would only be considered as the world consensus on cloning practices. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- First glance • The United States is promoting a global treaty banning embryonic stem cell research and all forms of human cloning. • The proposal was the subject of debate before a United Nations General Assembly committee last week. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn