Cell Division

Delegates from around the world met at the United Nations recently to begin preparing an international treaty to outlaw the reproductive cloning of humans. Representatives from countries as diverse as Brazil and Sweden, Uganda and China, Japan, Germany, and France all strongly support a treaty to ban reproductive cloning.

No country wants to allow use of the ''Dolly the sheep'' cloning technique - the one since used to create mice, pigs, cows, and most recently, rabbits and a kitten - to make a human child. Virtually every nation agrees that children should not be commodified like barnyard animals or pets, even like beloved cats or dogs.

The powerful global consensus that human reproductive cloning should be outlawed provides an unprecedented opportunity for the world to take united action on a bioethical issue that could profoundly affect the future of our species. It would be a tragedy if this opportunity were lost because the United States refuses to support a ban.

The United States has, nonetheless, threatened to take its ball and go home if the world community does not give...