Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer and the United Nations

The acceptability of SCNT and research cloning is at the heart of deep disagreements that thwarted attempts to pass a treaty condemning and prohibiting human reproductive cloning at the United Nations  (UN). At issue was the scope of any such treaty. Although there was consensus among member states regarding a call for a ban on reproductive cloning, there was no consensus on the appropriate response to research cloning.

In 2001  Germany and France lead a campaign to create a binding treaty banning reproductive cloning. While a majority of countries supported the proposal to begin negotiating a treaty to ban reproductive cloning, a minority of countries led by Spain and the United States lobbied to ban both types of cloning in the
initial treaty. A decision about the scope of the treaty was delayed until September 2003. In September, the Interacademy Panel on International Issues, composed of more than 60 scientific academies from every continent in the world called on the UN to adopt a ban on reproductive cloning, but to permit an exemption for research cloning. A proposal to ban both types of cloning led by Costa Rica and the United States was defeated by one vote and in November, 2003  further work on the convention was delayed for one year despite attempts by Costa Rica and the United States to force another vote on the resolution in December.

In March 2005, after four years of disagreement and behind the scenes negotiation, the UN’s General Assembly adopted resolution 59/280, containing in its annex the text of the United Nations Declaration on Human Cloning. The Declaration is not legally binding, but has persuasive authority. It calls upon member states to “prohibit all forms of human cloning inasmuch as they are incompatible with human dignity and the protection of human life.” Member states such as the United Kingdom, which legally permits SCNT, were quick to criticize the resolution, but the political difficulties getting the resolution adopted mirror the continuing lack of consensus about using cloning technology in hES research.