Therapeutic cloning bill: first steps to overthrow ban

The Australian Senate has today taken the first steps in overturning the ban on therapeutic cloning, voting 34 to 31 in favour of a private member's bill recommending the adoption of the Lockhart Review.

The majority verdict was on the second reading of Liberal Senator Kay Patterson's private member's bill. The debate will now address the various amendments put forward, which will be further debated this afternoon and for the rest of the week, before a definitive vote on the third reading is taken by Friday.

If the vote on the third reading is again in the majority, the bill will pass to the House of Representatives, where a similar split is expected.

A spokesperson for Patterson said that with the Senate vote so close, "the bill hasn't passed by any means".

Today, news.com.au carried an AAP story quoting Liberal Senator Julian McGuaran, who warned of "a Nuremberg rally - a rally of Dr Strangeloves chanting for such weird experiments as the creation of hybrid embryos, mixing humans with animals".

However, AAP quoted Democrats Senator Andrew Murray as saying "I do not fear that I will live to see centaurs, minotaurs or satyrs. I do not fear mad scientists will pervert the intention of this legislation".