Whether to sanction the cloning of human embryos remains a polarizing issue that has profound ethical and moral implications. In Japan, a government-appointed committee on bioethics late last year published a noncommittal interim report stating the pros and cons.
Now, after three years of debate, the panel has made its position clearer: Production of cloned human embryos should be approved for basic research.
The select committee on bioethics, a division of the Council for Science and Technology Policy, last week adopted by majority vote a draft final report presented by its chairman, Mr. Taizo Yakushiji, a law professor who supports cloning research. The vote, however, was reportedly taken in an unusually tense atmosphere, reflecting sharp differences among 16 members, including doctors, lawyers and religious scholars. It appeared as if the committee was following the example of a majority party railroading a disputed bill through the Diet.