Chinese and French experts will join hands to study how to create laws dealing with human cloning, under a research program co-sponsored by the Nanfang Center under China National Human Genome Project (NHGP) and the University I of Paris.

A major part of the three-year program is an annual seminar on human cloning, which will be attended by experts from the biological, legal, medical, sociological and philosophical circles, sources said.

The first seminar will be held in the Shanghai-based Fudan University in the second half of November this year, to discuss human cloning laws as well as other social and ethical issues.

Zhang Naigen, deputy director of the department of ethics, laws and social problems of NHGP Nanfang Center, said the two sides will exchange results of their human cloning studies from the social and ethical perspectives and offer proposals to their governments to facilitate lawmaking.

Though human cloning is objected explicitly by all governments and international organizations including the UNESCO(United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and WHO (World Health Organization), experiments under the table are reported from time to time.

"Mere objection is not enough," said Chen Renbiao, a consultant of the Nanfang Center, "We've got to be prepared for the experiments under the table and make laws beforehand. Do not wait until one day a cloned man stands in front of us and everyone is at a loss."

(Xinhua News Agency 07/15/2001)