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Two-year delay at UN must not stop immediate International efforts to curb reproductive cloning

November 07, 2003

The Human Cloning Policy Institute (HCPI) continues to press its World Court Initiative asking the United Nations General Assembly, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNESCO to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice declaring human reproductive cloning a "crime against humanity."

HCPI executive director, Bernard Siegel, stated, " The United Nations has voted for a two year delay for any consideration of a human cloning ban. That delay is entirely too long not to take action on an international level and will serve as a license to rogue scientists, such as Zavos, Antinori and possibly others, to continue shopping for safe-havens to their extremely dangerous, covert, reproductive cloning experiments."

Ian Wilmut, a member of the HCPI Scientific Advisory Board stated, " The likely outcome of attempts to produce children by nuclear transfer include late abortions, the birth of dead children unable to live a normal life because of abnormalities."

Siegel commented, "The world has a narrow window of opportunity to clamp down on cloning reproductive activity on an international level. Perhaps the only course remaining at the United Nations is to seek an immediate advisory opinion from the ICJ. We believe that an opinion stating that reproductive cloning is a crime against humanity would prompt governments to crack down on those activities and serve as a permanent deterrent."

In addition to the World Court Initiative, HCPI will continue to encourage all governments to pass restrictions prohibiting human reproductive cloning.

Regarding the narrow vote at the United Nations on Thursday, Siegel said "At HCPI we are breathing a huge sigh of relief. An international convention against therapeutic (research) cloning would have been a catastrophe to millions of suffering persons living in hope of medical breakthroughs for many of man's most deadly diseases and debilitating conditions."
Siegel commented, "We believe the very intense grassroots campaign, spearheaded by our group, was critical to securing, at very least, that single vote, the passing margin, which effectively spared therapeutic cloning from being banned internationally. I congratulate those organizations that joined us in this effort, the Stem Cell Action Network (SCAN), the Committee for Advancement of Stem Cell Research (CASCR), the Coalition for Advancement of Medical Research (CAMR), the American Society of Cell Biology (ASCB) and the International Society of Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), as well as thousands of individuals who signed petitions and emailed UN missions. It is not how late you start but where you end that counts," Siegel said.

The Human Cloning Policy Institute (HCPI) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advocacy and education policies directed against reproductive cloning, while preserving SCNT (therapeutic cloning,) which holds the promise of understanding and treating some of man's deadliest diseases.

HCPI's principal supporters are leading stem cell scientists, researchers and physicians, who are members of the group's science and medical advisory boards. A partial list includes: Dr. Ian Wilmut (Roslin Institute), Dr. Rudolf Jaenisch (Whitehead Institute- MIT), Dr. Douglas Melton (Harvard), Dr. Lawrence Goldstein (UCSD), Dr. Gerald Schatten (Magee College), Dr. Alan Trounson ( Monash- Australia), Camillo Ricordi, MD (Diabetes Research Institute), Dr. Helena Edlund (Sweden), Dr. W.Dalton Dietrich (Miami Project to Cure Paralysis), Joe Massey, MD. (Reproductive expert-Atlanta), Judith Grossberg, M.D. (pediatrics-MCV),Doris Rapp, MD ( best-selling author), Sidney Ikpe (International Hospital Relief Foundation), Torrey Brown, MD (Intralytix, Inc., Baltimore) and Dr. Barry Smernoff (Cleveland).

HCPI also has the support of a human rights-legal advisory board that includes retired World Court Judge Christopher Weeramantry (Sri Lanka), law professor Richard Falk (Princeton-UCSB), Peter Ludwig (Darby & Darby-New York) and Nihal Jayawickrama (University of London, School of Economics).

Genetics Policy Institute (GPI)