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Human Cloning Policy Institute urges World Court to rule on human reproductive cloning.
Sunday, 19 October 2003
A new organisation of scientists, lawyers and human rights activists, the Human Cloning Policy Institute (HCPI), has launched the "World Court Initiative" asking the UN General Assembly to request an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice. The group wrote UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan asking the General Assembly seek an advisory opinion from the court declaring that human reproductive cloning is a "crime against humanity".
The court, formally known as the International Court of Justice, is based in The Hague in the Netherlands. The initiative comes after the recent report that the UN efforts to seek a global ban on human cloning were collapsing.
"The court is the ultimate international legal authority", Bernard Siegel, the group’s executive director, told The Scientist. Although the court’s opinion isn’t binding, it would pressure would-be cloner’s and encourage national anti-cloning legislation, he said.
Siegel, a Coral Gables, Fla.–based attorney, argued the court should act soon because several individuals and organisations trying to clone humans may do so before long, if they haven’t already.
Siegel’s 17-member advisory board includes prominent figures such as Prof. Ian Wilmut, who cloned the sheep "Dolly" in 1997 and was the first scientist to clone a mammal from an adult animal’s cells. Siegel was also involved in a legal attempt earlier this year to get Clonaid to disclose where ‘Baby Eve’ was located, to try to get her put under protective custody.
Another prominent stem cell researcher, Professor Alan Trounson, Australia, has also joined Human Cloning Policy Institute in their global push to ban human cloning, amid growing fears that rogue scientists are abusing the technology.
Professor Trounson has long been a vocal anti-cloning campaigner. In an interview with Melbourne Herald Sun he likened the risk to that of the misuse of nuclear armaments.
"Human cloning must be declared a crime against humanity," Professor Trounson said.
"It is a matter of importance to the wellbeing of our children. Even one child subjected to this kind of abuse is not acceptable, not anywhere."
Professor Trounson said human cloning would be "a disaster".
"Human cloning would wreak havoc on individuals. Medically, it is totally unacceptable and unethical," he said.
He said children born from the technique could face death at any point in time.
"That's not a reasonable way to live your life," he said.
Although animal experiments confirm most human clones would be miscarried or die at birth, those few babies born alive could suffer horrific health problems, he warned.
Professor Trounson said these babies might be tragically abnormal, suffer severe respiratory difficulties, and immune system failure. Experts have also predicted behavioural and developmental problems.
"We need to do something to prevent human cloning. We have to stop these covert activities and I hope Australians will respond," he said.
Source: Press release from The Human Cloning Policy Institute
Read the full press release here: Reproductive Cloning Declared A "Crime Against Humanity"
About Human Cloning Policy Institute:
The Human Cloning Policy Institute (HCPI) is a non-profit organisation dedicated to effectuating laws against reproductive cloning, while preserving SCNT (therapeutic cloning) which holds the promise of understanding and treating some of Man’s deadliest diseases.
Its science advisory board includes some of the world's pre-eminent scientists, including Ian Wilmut, Rudolf Jaenisch (Whitehead Institute MIT), Douglas Melton (Harvard), Gerald Schatten (Magee College), Alan Trounson (Monash University, Australia), Helena Edlund (Umeå University, Sweden), Camillo Ricordi (University of Miami), and Lawrence S.B. Goldstein (UCSD). The medical advisor on reproductive technologies is Joe Massey, MD. (Atlanta).
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