To Clone Alone: The United Nations Human Cloning Declaration
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To Clone Alone: The United Nations Human Cloning Declaration
ROSARIO M. ISASI AND GEORGE J. ANNAS
ABSTRACT Rosario Isasi and George Annas trace the development of the United Nation’s Declaration on Human Cloning, demonstrating the difficulty of reaching an international consensus, and how the current declaration fails to address the ethical issues surrounding cloning. KEYWORDS cloning; UN Declaration on cloning; stem cell research; ethics; global governance
Introduction The United Nations laboured for almost four years to create a treaty governing human cloning. In 2005 that effort was abandoned, and instead, the United Nations’ General Assembly adopted the ‘Declaration on Human Cloning’ (hereafter, ‘Cloning Declaration’) (UN, 2005a). This was a stunning defeat for those member nations who believed that global governance of human cloning was both necessary and desirable to prevent individual scientists1 corporations, or even member states, from pursuing their own research agendas, regardless of any international consensus or concern. Additionally, there currently exists an international consensus on using somatic cell nuclear transfer technology to create a child, while the creation of human embryonic cells lines for therapeutic or medical applications remains disputed. None of the UN’s 191 member states deem human replicative cloning, also called ‘asexual reproductive cloning’ (but usually inaccurately referred to as ‘reproductive cloning’), as ethically permissible because the procedure violates human rights and dignity. The UN’s Cloning Declaration fails to reflect this consensus and also fails to serve as a legally binding agreement, which promulgates an international framework for responsible social governance of human embryo research, especially research involving inheritable genetic traits. Furthermore, the UN’s first major attempt to assert bioethics standards proves to lack moral leadership in effectively promoting international dialogue on universal values in bioethics and human rights (Isasi and Annas, 2003). In fact, the magnitude of nations that disapprove of the Cloning Declaration is greater than the number that supports it, therefore making the adopted text unlikely to carry significant political weight.2 After more than four years of acrimonious debate characterized by sharp divisions, and described as an ‘unbearable’ situation for the international community by Mohamed Bennouna, Chairman of the Sixth (Legal) Committee, the General Assembly Development (2006) 49(4), 60–67. doi:10.1057/palgrave.development.1100313
Isasi and Annas: The UN Human Cloning Declaration settled with the adoption of a‘political’declaration. A deadlock prevailed during the negotiations and a frail consensus was reached which both broadened and weakened the entire proposal. The final result was the adoption of the Cloning Declaration which only highlights questions concerning the text’s meaning and effectiveness. The strength or weakness of an international instrument depends not only on its content and s
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