BBC News reports that the South Korean scientists who successfully cloned human embryos to extract stem cells have called for a global ban on cloning to make babies.

Woo Suk Hwang, who led the research, said reproductive cloning was clearly wrong, and should be outlawed.

The researchers have shown they can produce stem cells from human embryos, in a procedure which is known as “therapeutic cloning.” The process means that stem cells can be grown into any cell in the body to treat various diseases.

The South Korean scientists are the latest group of mainstream scientists to call for a global ban, an idea which was first discussed at the United Nations three years ago.

Late last year, around 60 national academies of science from around the world called for a global ban on reproductive cloning, but said researchers should be free to experiment, as the Korean team did, with therapeutic cloning.

Wired addresses the issue of Government support for such work.

Researchers say there are many reasons why South Koreans — and not Americans — were standing at the podium Thursday at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Seattle, not the least of which is the support of the federal government.

“Government support is key, absolutely,” said Rudolf Jaenisch, a cloning expert and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. “In the United States nobody could do this because the United States does not have government support.”

President Bush placed a moratorium on spending federal funds to develop new embryonic stem-cell lines in August 2001. He also has said he supports a ban on all cloning research, including therapeutic cloning, which researchers hope can lead to important new treatments for diseases.

Because the embryo is destroyed when stem cells are extracted, some religious and anti-abortion groups contend the process is murder. A handful of bills seeking to ban cloning have made the rounds in Congress. Some bills aimed to ban reproductive cloning, others would ban both types. No legislation has passed, however, in part because some cloning opponents have drawn links between therapeutic and reproductive cloning, and will not support a bill that allows either type of cloning.

Rogue scientists have threatened to use reproductive cloning to produce babies, although they offer no scientific proof that they’re close to reaching that goal. Some opponents fear that if therapeutic cloning is permitted, rogue scientists will be enabled to pursue reproductive cloning.