UN Abandons Idea of Anti-Cloning Treaty

Nov. 19, 2004
Christian Science Monitor

UN diplomats abandoned contentious efforts to draft a treaty that would outlaw human cloning and will likely settle for a weaker declaration that won't seek a comprehensive ban, officials said.

The last-minute agreement on Thursday appeared to be a major blow to President Bush, who had called for a total ban on cloning when he spoke before the UN General Assembly in August.

While there is near universal support among the United Nations' 191 members to ban reproductive cloning - the cloning of babies - countries have wrestled over whether to allow cloning for stem cell and other research.

For more than a year, the General Assembly's legal committee has been wrestling with rival cloning resolutions. One, offered by Costa Rica, calls for the drafting of a treaty banning all forms of cloning. The other, from Belgium, would allow some cloning for science.

In the end, the two sides were too divided to get enough support for a treaty that would achieve worldwide ratification, said Marc Pecsteen, a Belgian diplomat in the thick of the talks.

Instead, they agreed to settle on a less powerful, nonbinding declaration that would include language ambiguous enough to please both sides.

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