In its report, the Japan-based United Nations University Institute for Advanced Studies said a human clone could be produced before the international community has made its choice between banning reproductive human cloning and allowing strictly controlled cloning research for therapeutic purposes, including donor organs.
Dr. Chamundeeswari Kuppuswamy, one of the four authors of the report, said the UN might otherwise have to adopt a convention on clone rights.
The report was published on Sunday, the same day as a group of U.S. scientists created tens of viable cloned embryos from cells taken from an adult ape. The report also cites forecasts from American and Italian genetic scientists who expect a human clone to be reproduced within a year or two.
Kuppuswamy said that the UN remained divided on the reproductive cloning ban, and even the use of embryo cells for medical purposes remains ethically unacceptable for some nations.
The Vatican has already strongly objected to any experiments involving the cloning of human cells.
After a series of debates, the UN adopted a compromise non-binding UN Declaration on Cloning backed by 84 of its 192 member nations in 2005. Russia did not vote and its position has remained unclear. Fifty countries have banned human cloning, but reproductive cloning is not legally regulated anywhere n the world.
The first ever animal clone, Dolly the sheep, was produced in 1996 and lived only six years, half the usual life span of sheep. Dolly suffered from arthritis and lung disorders, illnesses usually associated with older sheep.
