UN delays work on human cloning treaty for a year

The United Nations General Assembly decided yesterday to put off talks for a year on a treaty banning human cloning that the Bush Administration wants to extend to research on stem cells.

All 191 UN members agree on prohibiting human cloning, but they are divided about whether to allow cloning human embryos for stem cell or other research, known as "therapeutic" cloning.

The assembly's legal committee, by a one-vote margin, last month said a treaty should not be negotiated for two years, thereby virtually derailing the measure. Some 66 scientific academies worldwide support therapeutic cloning.

The two sides compromised yesterday on a one-year delay.