UNITED NATIONS, NY—A UN sharply divided on the issue of "therapeutic" cloning decided by a razor-thin margin yesterday to delay a vote for 2 years, rather than choose between two different cloning bans before the General Assembly.
Instead, on Thursday (November 6), the General Assembly voted 80 to 79 in favor of a procedural motion made by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to put off voting on a cloning ban for 2 years, "to study all aspects and ramifications of the issue and come up with a clear view on the subject matter." Not all 191 members of the General Assembly were in attendance, and 15 member states present abstained from voting.
The vote caps nearly 2 years of contentious wrangling over a proposed UN convention to address the issue of human cloning. Opposing camps had come to a stalemate over whether the treaty should ban all forms ...
