Australia gets rid of ban on therapeutic cloning

In Australia, the legalization of the cloning of human embryos for stem cell research has been passed after a vote by the House of Representatives today that lifted a four-year-old ban on the procedure.

Conservative Prime Minister John Howard -- who is against such legislation -- said "In the end you have to take a stand for some absolutes in our society ... and I think what we're talking about here is a moral absolute and that is why I can't support the legislation."

The Australian parliament passed Australia's first laws on stem cell research in 2002, but the law passed today allows therapeutic cloning only.