Irish scientist among team alerting UN about human cloning

AN IRISH scientist is part of a team which has just informed the United Nations that human cloning is very close to becoming a reality.

Dr Brendan Tobin, formerly with the National University of Ireland, now with the UN University in Japan, was one of four authors who wrote “Is Human Reproductive Cloning Inevitable: future options for UN Governance”.

The document warns human cloning is so close to becoming a reality the world must move quickly to ban it or protect cloned humans from “potential abuse, prejudice and discrimination”.

“At present, there is no case in international law for banning all types of cloning. However, there is a strong case to prohibit reproductive cloning since a ban on the procedure is emerging as a customary international norm. The challenge for the international community in choosing the appropriate option(s) is to find a compromise position that allows for adoption of a respected and effective mechanism to govern human cloning,” it said.

The authors said a total ban on reproductive cloning would bring research to a standstill.

“It would put an end to the destruction of human embryos for the purpose of this type of research and would preserve and respect life. On the other hand the promise for new therapies and improvement in human health, the freedom of research and future choices for reproduction will go unexplored.”

Negotiations about an international ban on cloning collapsed in 2005 because of disagreements over whether to permit research cloning to help treat diseases such as diabetes or Alzheimer’s.

More than 50 governments have legislation outlawing human cloning, among them Ireland.