Rogue scientists are going to clone a human unless the UN stops them by putting out guidelines, according to a new report from a UN think tank. Clearly concerned after recent advances in cloning technology, and perhaps also watching too many re-runs of The Island of Dr Moreau, the report’s authors want a global ban on the production of cloned babies, according to many news reports.

“Failure to outlaw reproductive cloning means it is just a matter of time until cloned individuals share the planet,” said report author Brendan Tobin of the Irish Center for Human Rights in Galway, Ireland (AFP, AP). Tobin thinks a previous, non-binding UN declaration in 2005 is not enough to ensure someone doesn’t clone a human (Reuters)

Frankly though I’m a bit confused as to which report some of these news items are looking at. Reuters says the report states: “A legally-binding global ban on work to create a human clone, coupled with freedom for nations to permit strictly controlled therapeutic research, has the greatest political viability of options available.” I can’t find that statement in the report anywhere.

The report I’m looking at is titled, Is Human Reproductive Cloning Inevitable: Future Options for UN Governance, which could probably have done with a question-mark somewhere. This concludes, “…there is a strong case and urgency to prohibit reproductive cloning since a ban on the procedure is emerging as a customary international norm.”

It seems most people are agreed that we shouldn’t clone people. But given the speed at which the UN moves on topics like this, what odds can you get on an international ban appearing before a cloned human?