Representatives of several U.N. member nations last month during a debate before a U.N. legal committee at the General Assembly 59th Session spoke out against the Bush administration's campaign for a total cloning ban. The debates followed a yearlong hiatus on discussions of whether U.N. nations should ban only reproductive human cloning or extend the ban to research cloning.

Sixty-one countries, including the United States, believe that all scientific research using cells extracted from cloned embryos should be banned immediately and support Costa Rica's proposal to ban both reproductive and research cloning.

However, 24 other nations -- including Singapore and South Korea -- say that cloning for research purposes, if regulated properly, has the potential for advancing health and science. Those nations are supporting a proposal by Belgium that would ban reproductive cloning but allow research cloning.

The Belgian proposal would leave the question of cloning for research purposes up to the discretion of individual countries (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 10/25).

Although a compromise between the U.S.-led and Belgian-led groups has yet to be reached, a last-minute compromise still might be reached to avoid the up-or-down vote scheduled for the end of the week.

According to diplomats, support for the U.S.-backed total cloning ban has declined in the legal committee, which writes U.N. treaties. "The negotiations are continuing, but a lot of people seem to be resigned to a vote," a diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity said, adding, "It seems there is no possibility to reach an agreement" (Reuters, 11/11).
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