SciDev.Net reports on the new Islamic code of medical ethics up for a vote:
Muslim states are being asked to allow the cloning of human embryos for research into possible medical treatments so-called therapeutic cloning while maintaining a ban on the reproductive cloning of human beings.
Both provisions are included in the draft text of what is being proposed as the first international Islamic code of medical and health ethics, approved during the eighth conference of the Islamic Organization for Medical Sciences (IOMS), held in Cairo last month.
The proposed code addresses the relationships between physicians, their patients, and wider society from the perspectives of both Islam and medical ethics. It takes into account Islamic views on new medical techniques such as in vitro fertilisation and gene therapy.
Labels: code of medical ethics, conferences, doctor-patient relationships, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, Islam, Islamic Bioethics, research bans