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Few Legal Barriers On Human Cloning In Australia, New Zealand
Tuesday, November 27, 2001
By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com Pacific Rim Bureau Chief

Several Australian specialists were quoted Tuesday as saying research in their country would fall further behind because of legal barriers in place or under consideration.

Pacific Rim Bureau
The Australian and New Zealand governments are looking into strengthening laws on human cloning, amid fears that researchers could push ahead with such experiments in the absence of clear, legal restrictions.

Following the news that scientists in the United States have cloned the first human embryo for the purposes of stem cell research, politicians, religious leaders and lobby groups have called for urgent action.

Reproductive scientists and pro-cloning advocates, meanwhile, have welcomed the development and said any attempts to curtail scientific research could prolong the suffering of people who could benefit from stem cell therapies.

In New Zealand, there is currently no ban on cloning. A spokesman said the government was concerned about cloning, and Prime Minister Helen Clark hopes two private members' bills on reproductive technology will reach the cabinet within several months. Those bills, however, only call for a complete ban on live-birth cloning.

In Australia, reproductive or live-birth cloning is banned under federal law, but the cloning of an embryo in order to provide stem cells for medical research -- which scientists call "therapeutic," and prolifers label "destructive" -- is only restricted in three out of the country's six states and two territories.
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2001 © CNSNews.com.

Dan