At a meeting of the Council of Australian Governments on 8 June, State and Federal Government leaders agreed to put in place a nationally consistent legislative ban on human reproductive cloning (see
news story in The Canberra Times, and
Stem cells and cloning page for background information). They also agreed to work towards a consistent approach to other areas of assisted reproduction and stem cell research, including the contentious issue of therapeutic cloning. Health Ministers have been asked to report on the technical and scientific aspects of these matters by the end of 2001, and there will also be a wide-ranging programme of consultation with scientists, medical researchers and the community in general. The aim is to have a consistent regulatory framework in place by June 2002. Consensus may be difficult to achieve, however, as comments by several State Premiers after the meeting revealed widely differing stances on the ethics of stem cell research.