Two Member States call for international ban on human cloning
Following the announcement by Italian Dr Severino Antinori of his plan to press ahead with cloning a human being, the French and German governments have revealed that they are planning to raise discussion of a international ban of the human cloning to be raised at the next meeting of the United Nations general assembly in September. The move follows the European Commission clarifying that, while it condemned the plan, it had no legal basis on which to stop the doctor performing the experiment. A Council of Europe convention bans the activity, but the UK remains the only Member State with specific finalised legislation in place specifically banning human reproductive cloning. There are also resolutions from the United Nations science and education body, UNESCO and the World health organisation (WHO) banning human cloning, but these are not legally binding. Meanwhile an Australian company has been granted exclusive rights to clone sheep cattle and horses for the commercial market in Australia and New Zealand. Using the same technology which produced Dolly the sheep, Clone international says that it will be cloning the elite animals and aims to see the first clones produced in the coming months.