The Russian State Duma has passed a law, extending the ban on human cloning. The reason for this remains the same - human cloning is faced with numerous judicial, ethical and religious problems, which can't be yet resolved. Still, the law doesn't apply to the experiments with cells and organisms for scientific and research purposes, says the first deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Health Protection Nicolay Gerasimenko.
At present, human cloning is prohibited world-wide in compliance with a relevant UN convention. Still, in Great Britain and the US this ban is functioning as a mere formality. Human embryos, development of which terminates after 2 weeks of pregnancy, are used in the United States in terms of therapeutic cloning to produce stem cells. Scientists in the UK received permission to clone human embryos for medical research several years ago. And Russia, for a variety of reasons, particularly, ethical ones, decided to ban human cloning, Nicolay Gerasimenko says:
"It doesn't regard prohibition of animal cloning, as well as the work on creating "imported" organs, in other words, cloning the tissues of the heart, kidneys and others. When people consider cloning of themselves or their relatives and friends, they fail to realize that it will be only possible to clone their bodies, and not their intellect, mental capacity or morality. As the experience of sheep Dolly shows, cloned animals are short-lived due to their compromised immunity, which makes them extremely vulnerable to illnesses. Scientists will have to work much in this sphere", Nicolay Gerasimenko pointed out.
The adoption of the new law, banning human cloning, was supported by the Russian scientific community. Ordinary Russians, according to recent polls, are wary of this issue, with 40 per cent of respondents believing that such experiments may have unpredictable effects. Half of those polled said they wouldn't agree to participate in any cloning-related scientific research. Still, the overwhelming majority of people favored therapeutic cloning, creation of cells, genes and organs. This type of scientific research is actually permitted by the new law.
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