What are the key international policy positions addressing human therapeutic and reproductive cloning?
• In 2005, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations Declaration on Human Cloning which calls for a prohibition on all forms of cloning “inasmuch as they are incompatible with human dignity and the protection of human life.” • UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Bioethics Committee declared in a report entitled Human Cloning Ethical Issues (2005) that human cloning infringes on human dignity and urged all member states to take measures against this technique. • The World Health Organization (WHO) took a similar position with regards to reproductive cloning by declaring in their report on the Ethical, Scientific and Social Implications of Cloning in Human Health (1998) that “the replication of human individuals is ethically unacceptable and contrary to human dignity and integrity.” • The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) in its Guidelines for the Conduct of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research (2006) clearly limits cloning for reproductive purposes: “given c
