IAP REITERATES ITS SUPPORT FOR THERAPEUTIC CLONING Sixty-six members of the InterAcademy Panel on International Issues (IAP) have called on the UN General Assembly to avoid voting a second time on a resolution to ban both therapeutic and human reproductive cloning. The Costa Rican delegation plans to reintroduce such a resolution at the UN just one month after it failed to win approval. On 6 November 2003, the UN Legal Committee voted to support a motion by Iran to postpone a decision on a worldwide resolution on cloning until 2005. The approval for delay ended debate on two competing resolutions: one submitted by Costa Rica that called for a total ban on both therapeutic and human reproductive cloning, and another submitted by Belgium, which also called for a ban on human reproductive cloning but would have allowed each member state to determine whether to pursue a national policy that permitted therapeutic cloning. On 22 September, the IAP issued a statement that "scientific research on reproductive cloning" - in mammals other than humans - "shows that there is a markedly higher than normal incidence of fetal disorders and loss throughout pregnancy, and of malformation and death among newborns,and that there is no reason to suppose that the outcome would be different in humans. Therefore", the statement asserted, "even on a purely scientific basis, it would be quite irresponsible for anyone to attempt human reproductive cloning given our current level of scientific knowledge." At the same time, the statement points out that "cloning for research and therapeutic purposes has considerable potential from a scientific perspective, and should be excluded from the ban on human cloning." Such efforts could foster new therapies for millions of people suffering from diabetes, Parkinson's Disease and spinal cord injuries. In a resolution agreed by 66 members during IAP's General Assembly and Conference on Society for Society held in Mexico City from 1-5 December, the IAP reiterated its stance on both therapeutic cloning (which it supports) and human reproductive cloning (which it does not). The December statement reads: Members of the InterAcademy Panel, gathered for their General Assembly at the Mexican Academy of Sciences, are deeply concerned by an apparent proposal to move a vote at the U.N. General Assembly on Monday 8 December to ban all forms of human cloning. The IAP is the global consortium of the world's national academies of science. Sixty-six national academies, from all parts of the world and all cultural traditions, under the leadership of the IAP, called in September 2003 for a global ban on human reproductive cloning as a matter of urgency. Crucially, however, the 66 academies also called for policies on the acceptability of cloning for research and therapeutic purposes to be excluded from the global ban and to be determined at the national level. In doing this, the Academies recognized both the diversity of views on this difficult issue and the great medical potential of research on stem cells and cloning. This position was partially upheld by the U.N. Legal Committee on 6 November 2003, when a proposal to ban all forms of human cloning was put into abeyance for two years. We call upon the U.N. to stand by the decision of 6 November, to heed IAP's clear expression of global scientific consensus, and not to jeopardize the potential and far-reaching medical benefits that may arise from cloning for research and therapeutic purposes.