German Diplomat in Cloning Debate Denies C-FAM Charges

By C-FAM Staff | 2002

     (NEW YORK – C-FAM) The head of the German delegation to the UN debate on cloning has flatly denied a report in the September 27 Friday Fax that he told a closed-door meeting of diplomats that positions contrary to the German call for a partial ban on human cloning were criminal. In response to an official inquiry in the German parliament that was based upon the Friday Fax, Christian Much, German legal adviser to the UN, stated that "I have never made the statements attributed to me, according to which a ban on therapeutic cloning 'is in contradiction to German law' or 'represents a criminal act.' On the background of the German position this would also be complete nonsense. Once more: the non governmental organization [C-FAM] that has promulgated the statements was not at all involved in the negotiations in question."

     However, C-FAM learned of Much's intemperate remarks at the meeting from delegates who were present in the room, including one nation's head of delegation. [Representatives of civil society, including C-FAM, are often barred from essential negotiating session, thereby making it extremely difficult to hold diplomats accountable for their statements.]

     The German and French position seeks to ban the creation of human beings for live-birth purposes, but would not ban the creation of human beings to be used and destroyed in medical experiments. The alternative proposal, co-sponsored by Spain, the United States, the Philippines, and twenty-seven other countries, hopes to achieve a comprehensive ban on the creation of human beings through cloning, no matter what the purpose of their creation.

     Early in the negotiations, it became clear that a primary German strategy was an attempt to transform the debate on cloning into a referendum on worldwide sentiment towards the United States. For instance, the German delegation has described the state of negotiations as "consensus minus one," implying that the entire world agrees with the partial ban except for the United States. In a statement made on October 17, Much made sure to emphasize that the proposal for a comprehensive ban was "led in particular by the USA," even though the United States is only one of many co-sponsors, and even though the Spanish delegation actually authored the proposal. And in a seeming effort to embarrass the US, Much twice mentioned that major initiatives to achieve live-birth cloning were "US-based."

     This focus on the United States is also evident in the NGO community. A group called the Center for Genetics and Society strongly doubts US motives, arguing that the US position reflects its distaste of multilateral negotiations, as well as its desire to placate the biotechnology industry. In a newsletter, the group writes that "the [US] administration's willingness to advocate a UN treaty process that seems likely to fail is consistent with the preferences of its supporters in the international business community (notably the biotechnology industry) and with its unilateralist foreign policy posture."

     Pressure is growing within Germany to explain both the German position against a total ban as well as a negotiating strategy that threatens to further strain Germany's relationship with the US. Two weeks ago, Much even called the US position "morally questionable."

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