GIRDING FOR UN DEFEAT, CLONING ADVOCATES SEEK TO MOVE DECISION TO UNESCO
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Autor: ----
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Fuente: C-FAM (Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute)
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As
momentum
continues
to
build
for
a
comprehensive
ban
on
human
cloning
at
the
UN,
cloning
proponents
are
seeking
a
different
more
cloning-friendly
venue.
Namely
they
are
trying
to
move
the
debate
from
the
UN
to
the
Paris-based
International
Bioethics
Committee
(IBC)
of
the
United
Nations
Educational,
Scientific
and
Cultural
Organization
(UNESCO).
Several
diplomats
and
government
officials
have
told
the
Friday
Fax
that
they
consider
such
a
maneuver
to
be
deeply
anti-democratic,
and
little
more
than
an
effort
to
circumvent
three
years
of
public
and
open
debate
on
cloning
at
the
UN
and
replace
it
with
the
closed-door
work
of
"experts"
at
UNESCO.
The
IBC
is
now
in
the
process
of
drafting
a
document
called
the
Declaration
on
the
Universal
Norms
on
Bioethics,
and
an
analysis
of
the
members
of
the
committee
charged
with
writing
the
initial
draft
shows
that
the
majority
already
favors
research
cloning,
the
creation
of
human
embryos
through
cloning
for
their
use
and
destruction
in
medical
research.
Only
one
member
of
the
committee,
Professor
Claude
Huriet
of
France,
has
spoken
publicly
against
the
destruction
of
embryos
for
research,
while
seven
members
have
made
statements
that
appear
to
support
the
procedure.
Giovanni
Berlinguer,
an
Italian
politician
and
member
of
the
Communist
Party,
has
said
that
science
should
not
be
restrained
by
moral
issues
or
dogma,
and
that
the
formulation
of
bioethical
principles
should
be
done
"outside
dogmas."
Two
other
members
have
already
stated
that
the
use
of
embryos
should
not
be
addressed
in
the
UNESCO
Declaration.
According
to
Roberto
Andorno,
"I
have
quite
some
difficulty
in
using
the
term
'against
human
dignity'
as
a
sole
justification
to
ban
specific
types
of
research
or
applications.Maybe
it
will
be
possible
to
agree
on
some
generally
accepted
violations
of
human
dignity
(starvation,
killing,
torture)
whereas
for
other
issues
(contraception,
abortion,
prenatal
diagnosis,
embryo
research)
we
agree
that
a
pluralistic
approach
is
mandatory."
This
"pluralistic
approach"
will
ensure
that
the
UNESCO
Declaration
remains
silent
on
the
issue
of
cloning
for
the
purposes
of
human
experimentation,
which
could
then
be
considered
tacit
approval
of
the
procedure.
The
IBC
drafting
committee
is
working
extremely
quickly
on
the
document,
which
leads
one
government
official
to
believe
that
it
is
racing
against
the
UN
vote
which
is
scheduled
for
this
October.
Because
the
UNESCO
Declaration
is
not
scheduled
for
completion
before
2005,
it
is
suspected
cloning
proponents
will
seek
further
delays
in
the
UN
vote.
Last
year,
a
coalition
of
countries
including
Costa
Rica,
the
United
States
and
the
Holy
See
successfully
reduced
a
two-year
delay
to
one
year,
thereby
setting
the
stage
for
this
October's
vote.
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