French parliament backs human cloning ban

The draft law would also ban cloning for therapeutic purposes -- the creation of stem cells for medical research -- and key techniques used in embryo research.

Final legislation will be adopted early next year assuming it is also passed by the upper house -- which like the lower house is dominated by President Jacques Chirac's ruling conservatives -- in a vote scheduled for February.

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"This text is a sop to conservatives and is a step backwards compared to the first version," left-wing deputy Jacqueline Fraysse said, referring to an initial draft penned under the Socialist-led government which was ousted last year.

France has been one of the countries most opposed to cloning technologies. Chirac said this year he wanted to lead efforts for an international convention on bioethics to prevent abuse of cloning research.

The U.N. General Assembly decided Tuesday to postpone for a year deliberations on a treaty banning human cloning that President Bush's administration wants to extend to research on stem cells.