In March 1997, the European Parliament voted in a resolution to ban cloning of human beings. However, the resolution carries no legal weight. This policy area remains more obviously a matter for individual Member States, with national politicians bringing in legislation on human cloning. In Strasbourg, the Council of Europe, with 40 Member States, produced a protocol banning human cloning which has been added to their Convention on Biomedicine and Human Rights, and was signed on 12 January 1998 by 19 Member States. However the UK has not yet ratified this Convention so cannot sign the Protocol 6 .
Cloning seems to offer new possibilities of medical advances.
Others may want to replicate themselves for future generations, while yet others may want to create a clone to produce an organ for transplantation without the complications of rejecting the organ, ie for therapeutic purposes. CARE believes that each one of us is made uniquely in God's image with genetic inheritance from both our parents. There would be considerable pressure on the child to suit or fulfil the desires of their parents. Human life would be treated as just another 'product' or 'commodity', undermining the intrinsic worth and dignity of each individual if the characteristics of people were deliberately selected and chosen. It would promote asexual human reproduction using a single cell.