Wednesday, February 21, 2001

Ban on human cloning abroad urged

Takashi Sasagawa, minister in charge of science and technology policy, said Tuesday that Japan should revise its law banning human cloning to prohibit Japanese from cloning humans abroad.

"I personally think the law should immediately be revised to punish violators abroad," Sasagawa said, referring to a British media report last month that an infertile Japanese couple is on a waiting list for human cloning operations planned by a group of U.S. and Italian doctors. The report says the team includes Japanese experts.

Japan's law, which cleared the Diet in November and takes effect in June, imposes a prison term of up to 10 years on violators but cannot punish Japanese violators abroad even after they return home.

Sasagawa and Nobutaka Machimura, minister for education, science and technology, urged Japanese on Tuesday not to participate in human cloning projects.

Japan plans to ask the United States and Italy to ban human cloning, government officials said.