TOKYO -- The Japanese Cabinet on Friday approved a rare bill that will ban human cloning, even at a research level, and could punish offenders with prison terms of up to five years.
The bill now goes to parliament and, if passed, will be the first Japanese law mandating punishment for certain scientific research."It is felt that human cloning could damage human dignity and break down the social structure by muddling family ties," a spokesman for the Science and Technology Agency said.
The bill will outlaw the act of putting a cloned human embryo -- in which a body cell is transplanted into an unfertilized egg from which the nucleus has been removed -- back into the womb of humans or animals.
Punishments for those who break the law will be fines of up to $47,210, a prison sentence of up to five years, or both.
The law will also ban the transplant of hybrid embryos, or human egg cells fertilized with animal sperm, as well as chimera embryos made by combining human and animal embryo cells.
Some types of basic clone research may be permitted if deemed essential and cannot be carried out in any other way, but will require review and approval by a committee of experts.
Scientists say cloning technology could tackle ailments such as Parkinsons and Alzheimers diseases by introducing healthy cells back into a person with a medical problem, reducing the risk that their immune system will reject them.
European Union rules ban procedures to clone human beings and the commercial use of human embryos, and Britain bans the cloning of human embryos for reproduction and research.