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LIFESITE REPORT ON U.N. CLONING TREATY PROGRESS

Netherlands proposed 5-year moratorium on all cloning; Mexico wants total ban

NEW YORK, September 27, 2002 (LSN.ca) - Samantha Singson, a member of the editorial advisory board of The Interim, is representing Life Ethics at the United Nations. She is currently in New York monitoring the UN "Ad Hoc Committee on an International Convention against the Reproductive Cloning of Human Beings." The following are highlights from her observations as of yesterday morning:

"We (NGO's) were allowed in the room for the first two days so that we could hear the countries deliver general statements on cloning. Now that they're ready to discuss coming up with a general negotiating mandate, they want us [lay observers] out of the room. There are basically 2 camps [among the countries represented]: those who want a total ban on all forms of cloning and those who only want to focus on reproductive cloning."

By Sam's count, 23 countries more or less support a total ban, 29 countries want a more or less partial ban, while 7 countries put forward proposals ranging from 5-year moratorium to letting national governments legislate. Egypt and Benin, Muslim states usually in the pro-life camp, opted for the "partial" ban, standing with countries like France and Germany, while Mexico stood out for a total ban. Much to the surprise of observers, the Netherlands proposed a 5-year moratorium on all forms of cloning. But Canada, Samantha reports, "was as predicted. They advocated a partial ban, but they also mentioned that we had national legislation that was being debated right now that would ban all forms of cloning."

For previous LifeSite coverage see:
UN DIPLOMATS PREPARE REPRODUCTIVE HUMAN CLONING BAN
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/sep/02092408.html
and
US, VATICAN AND OTHERS ASK FOR INTERNATIONAL TREATY TO BAN ALL HUMAN CLONING
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/feb/02022701.html

To visit the UN's own pages on cloning see:
http://www.un.org/law/cloning/

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