Human reproductive cloning should be banned globally to prevent rogue scientists from creating cloned babies, says a United Nations report. Although 50 UN members have laws which outlaw cloning, another 140 do not. The report calls upon the UN to take a stand "urgently". It also says that governments should enact laws to protect the rights of cloned children, as cloning is inevitable. However, the report, "Is Human Reproductive Cloning Inevitable? Future Options for UN governance", published by law experts at the UN University's Institute of Advanced Studies, argues that therapeutic cloning should be allowed.

Despite their firm opposition to reproductive cloning, the authors acknowledge that a number of academics and ethicists do not object. By coincidence, only this week, one of the UK's most influential bioethicists, John Harris, of Manchester University, told the London Times that arguments against reproductive cloning which are not based on safety do not stack up. And Alison Murdoch, the leader of a team at Newcastle University which successfully cloned a short-lived human embryo, actually opposes a ban. "We shouldn't be afraid of the idea of two individuals with genetically identical material, although I cannot see a good clinical need for that," she says. "The risk you run by trying to ban cloning outright is that it may send those scientists who want do that kind of research to countries where it is completely unregulated." ~ London Telegraph, Nov 11