The world's science academies were urged yesterday (August 30) to reinforce their support for an international treaty on cloning that does not outlaw cell nuclear replacement for therapeutic purposes.
The United Nations (UN) General Assembly is expected to revisit the vexed issue of a convention on human cloning this fall, with a vote tentatively scheduled for October 21–22. Ahead of that meeting, the InterAcademy Panel (IAP), an umbrella body for national science academies, recently called on its member groups to step up pressure on their national governments.
The IAP, based in Trieste, Italy, has asked its member organizations to send a statement to appropriate officials saying that policy on cloning for research or therapeutic purposes should be left to individual countries.
The IAP statement on the UN cloning debate was first sent out last year, signed by 67 of its 90 member organizations. The group has sent it out once ...
