Renewed call for cross- party support for legislation on Human Cloning

The government is being urged to seek the support of all political parties in passing legislation to ban human cloning in New Zealand. Legislation has been stalled for years without any successful outcome, yet the threat of human cloning has been growing as the technology has developed.

The renewed call for urgent action on local legislation coincides with international efforts to address the threat of "designer humans' under international law.

A meeting to pursue a UN convention against human cloning is about to be held in New York and New Zealand must take an active role in the process. The convention has been initiated by France and Germany and has already received widespread international backing.

" The New Zealand government must act in conjunction with the international community and back the creation of a convention," sad Jon Carapiet, a spokeperson for GE-Free NZ in food and environment.

"Genetic engineering of humans in no longer science-fiction. Without urgent action the nightmare of human cloning and genetic experimentation aimed at altering the human species will be upon us."

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