Aggregated News
A key U.N. diplomat pledged on Monday to do all he could to avoid a vote this year on a divisive treaty banning human cloning that the Bush administration hoped to transform into a global ban on embryonic stem cell research.
Moroccan U.N. Ambassador Mohamed Bennouna, who chairs the U.N. General Assembly's treaty-writing legal committee, said he feared a vote at this time would be so polarizing as to delay a solution to the problem of human cloning.
"This has become such an emotional issue that I hope to avoid a vote this year," Bennouna told Reuters.
The issue has become a part of the U.S. presidential election campaign, with President Bush opposing government funding for any research involving human embryos and his Democratic opponent, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, calling for the aggressive pursuit of such studies.
The U.N. legal committee, whose membership is identical to the 191-nation General Assembly's, is scheduled to open debate on Thursday on guidelines for the drafting of a treaty banning human cloning, an issue pending in the assembly since 2001.
All U.N. members...
Moroccan U.N. Ambassador Mohamed Bennouna, who chairs the U.N. General Assembly's treaty-writing legal committee, said he feared a vote at this time would be so polarizing as to delay a solution to the problem of human cloning.
"This has become such an emotional issue that I hope to avoid a vote this year," Bennouna told Reuters.
The issue has become a part of the U.S. presidential election campaign, with President Bush opposing government funding for any research involving human embryos and his Democratic opponent, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, calling for the aggressive pursuit of such studies.
The U.N. legal committee, whose membership is identical to the 191-nation General Assembly's, is scheduled to open debate on Thursday on guidelines for the drafting of a treaty banning human cloning, an issue pending in the assembly since 2001.
All U.N. members...
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