Campaigners welcome US cloning ban

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) has welcomed this week's decision by the US House of Representatives to ban all human cloning. Paul Tully, SPUC general secretary, said: "In the UK any form of cloning - whether for research or for generating cloned babies - could now, in theory, be licensed. Congress's vote should be seen as a clear message for the British government, which is increasingly isolated in its pro-cloning stance. America's decision accords with the European Parliament's call last year for the United Kingdom to reject research on embryos created by cell nuclear transfer. "The stiff penalties which the US bill proposes indicate both the serious moral nature of the issue and the need to warn off those with commercial interests in developing cloning." The House of Representatives voted by 265 to 162 to adopt a bill to ban all human cloning. It rejected a measure which would have allowed cloning for research by 249 to 178. The bill now goes to the Senate.