illuminating science

In sort-of-good news for cloning research, the United Nations has deadlocked on trying to pass bills which would have banned human cloning. I don’t think that reproductive cloning (used when a couple can’t have children, and so one parent is cloned to create a child) is a good idea, but I do think we need to research the potential benefits of thereaputic cloning (where cloning is used to obtain stem cells compatible with the donor.) So it’s good that an all-out ban wasn’t passed, but unfortunate that a global agreement couldn’t be reached on what acceptable practices are.

The United Nations are instead considering a “non-binding” agreement, which would reccommend that member states that “prohibit any attempts at the creation of human life through cloning processes and any research intended to achieve that aim.” This definitely rules out reproductive cloning, but it’s less certain what it means for research.