European Union

The European Union has been delegated sovereignty over certain matters by its twenty-seven member states. Governance is shared by a Council of the European Union, made up of delegates from each member country, and by a European Parliament, directly elected by the 494 million citizens of the member countries.

In 1997 and 1998 the European Parliament called on the nations of the European Union "to enact binding legislation prohibiting all research into any kind of human cloning within its territory and providing for criminal penalties for any breach."

In 2000 the European Parliament reaffirmed its opposition to research cloning. It also called on the United Kingdom to reverse its decision to allow research cloning. This position was reaffirmed in 2003, when it voted in favour of a ban on the creation of human embryos for research purposes including stem cell research.

In September 2000 the European Parliament declared: "There is a consensus within the community that intervention in the human germ line and the cloning of human beings offends against the ordre public and morality."

World Health Organization

The World Health Organization and its governing body, the World Health Assembly, occupy a key position concerning human genetic technology policy. These bodies are global rather than regional and their mandates are operational, not merely advisory.

In 1997 the WHO called for a global ban on reproductive human cloning.

In 1999 a Consultation on Ethical Issues in Genetics, Cloning and Biotechnology was held to help assess future directions for the WHO. The draft guidelines prepared as part of this Consultation,Medical Genetics and Biotechnology: Implications for Public Health, were notable in calling explicitly for a global ban on inheritable genetic modification. However, these guidelines were never published in final form. The WHO has established a high-level advisory committee to help it decide on policies and programs on human genetic technologies.

In 2000 WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland reiterated oppostion to reproductive human cloning.

In September 2001 WHO convened a meeting to review and assess "recent technical developments in medically assisted procreation and their ethical and social implications." The review covered, among other items, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), and cryopreservation of gametes and embryos.

In February 2002 WHO repeated their opposition to reproductive human cloning and explicitly cautioned against banning cloning techniques for medical research.

Group of Eight

The Group of Eight (G-8) is an informal structure representing the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan, and the Russian Federation. It convenes annual summits attended by heads of state to consider issues of common concern.

At its June 1997 summit in Denver, the G-8 called for a worldwide ban on reproductive human cloning. According to the Final Communique of the Denver Summit of the Eight, the leaders of the G-8 nations agreed "on the need for appropriate domestic measures and close international cooperation to prohibit the use of somatic cell nuclear transfer to create a child."

Last modified May 15, 2006