The UK will vote against the declaration on human cloning at the United Nations' General Assembly today (8 March 2005).
The UN declaration is non-binding and has no legal status, but it calls on countries to prohibit all forms of human cloning. This is totally unacceptable to the UK government which strongly supports stem cell research, including embryonic stem cell research which involves the use of cloning technology. Stem cell research could lead to new treatments for serious and fatal diseases that affect millions of people.
Reproductive cloning is already illegal in the UK under the Human Reproductive Cloning Act passed in November 2001. The UN non-binding declaration on human cloning will neither affect UK Government policy on cloning, nor UK stem cell research.
Health Secretary, John Reid, said:
"We will vote against the United Nations declaration on human cloning because it calls on states to ban all forms of cloning. This would deny many patients with illnesses like Parkinson's disease, chronic heart disease and juvenile diabetes, the potential of effective treatments. It is a shame that the UN could not agree to a legally-binding worldwide ban on reproductive cloning, simply because a small group of countries intransigently refused to allow individual countries to make up their own minds on therapeutic cloning.
"Reproductive cloning is already illegal in the UK. Anyone attempting it in this country faces a 10-year prison sentence and unlimited fine. However, the UK Government supports all types of stem cell research, including those involving therapeutic cloning. Stem cell research is still in its infancy but it has the potential to revolutionise medicine in this century in a way that antibiotics did in the last. The Government is determined to use every opportunity to let science find ways to cure diseases.
"The UN declaration is non-binding and will make no difference whatsoever to the position of stem cell research in the UK: therapeutic cloning will continue to be allowed. The UK remains 'open for business' in stem cell research."
UN human cloning declaration vote
The declaration on human cloning was approved by the Sixth (Legal) committee of the United Nations on 18th February. It will now pass to the full 191-nation General Assembly. This vote will take place on 8 March 2005. The UK, along with other countries such as Belgium, Singapore and South Korea, have said that the move will have no effect on therapeutic cloning research already taking place in their countries. This is because the declaration is non-binding.
Reproductive and therapeutic cloning
Human reproductive cloning involves the creation of a genetically-identical human baby from an existing adult, using laboratory techniques such as Somatic Cell Nuclear Replacement (SCNR). Reproductive cloning is banned in the UK by the Human Reproductive Cloning Act (2001).
Therapeutic cloning employs the same SCNR technology as reproductive cloning. However, the embryos that are created are used to derive stem cells, which have great potential for treatments of serious illnesses. Embryo research, including therapeutic cloning, is allowed in the UK only under license from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. Government policy, endorsed by positive free votes in both Houses, is to support this research.
The History of the Cloning Debate at the UN
At the 58th General Assembly of the UN in 2003, Costa Rica tabled a resolution calling for the UN to develop an international convention which would ban all forms of cloning, including therapeutic. This resolution was supported by the United States and 64 other states.
A second resolution was tabled by Belgium. This called for the UN to develop an international convention which would ban reproductive cloning and require states to control therapeutic cloning by regulating it, banning it or imposing a moratorium at the national level. This resolution was supported by the UK and 21 other states.