Cloning's
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Timeline: Dolly
Timeline:
R. Seed
At this time, United States has passed no law barring cloning, but President Clinton has asked for a moratorium on human cloning until more studies on the subject can be completed. He also asked the National Bioethics Advisory Comittee to review the ethics and moral issues behind human cloning. Several bills banning human cloning has been drafted, but Congress has rejected every one.
Here is what other nations have done to regulate cloning research:
The largest piece of cloning legislation to date was put forth in connection with the Council of Europe, founded in 1949 to promote democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. The legislation calls for a moratorium on human cloning. The United States, Japan, Canada, and the Vatican participated in the drafting protocol that was signed by Denmark, Estonis, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Moldova, Norway, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Turkey.
Germany rejected this cloning legislation; they already had strict rules on embryo research partly due do to the overall German public's backlash against previous eugenics research connected with Hitler.
Britain would not sign either, they currently have their own cloning legislation, and did not agree with the Council of Europe's specifics on cloning research.
Portugal has been preparing a bill put forth by Health Minister Maria de Belem Roseira, but the bill has yet to produce a solid position on cloning.
The Netherlands has essentially banned cloning by stopping clone-related research at the genetic engineering company Pharming. Although The Netherlands does allow some genetic and embryo research, Pharming plans to relocate their development to the United States.
Genetic engineers in South Africa have announced plans to clone humans. Although the South African government has not restricted the procedure yet, some government officials are questioning whether the cloning of humans violates the government's Human Tissue Act.
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