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)