Nov 21, 2004 / 22:00 pm
Contrary to earlier press reports released by most major media Friday, pro-life organizations have cried victory after the United Nations shelved competing proposals for a treaty to ban human cloning. The UN agreed to meet to discuss the issue again in February during the current session of the Sixth Committee in order to finalize a compromise proposal put forward by the Italian delegation.
The compromise means that the UN General Assembly will not vote on rival resolutions as erroneously stated in earlier press reports, claiming that the February discussions would lead to a less powerful declaration.
The Italian compromise proposal calls for countries to prohibit any attempts at the creation of human life through cloning and any research intended to achieve that aim and to ensure that in the application of life sciences human dignity shall be respected in all circumstances.
In particular, the compromise states that women shall not be exploited (millions of eggs would be needed in order to carry out the research).