Whilst over at the UN's General Assembly in New York they narrowly voted to postpone any ban on human cloning until 2005 on Thursday, leading many scientists around the world to breathe a sigh of relief. The main alternative to the two-year moratorium was a Costa Rican-led blanket ban on both human reproductive and therapeutic cloning, backed by the US government and 43 other countries. Reproductive cloning - creating babies - is regarded by virtually everyone as dangerous and unethical. But opinion is split on therapeutic cloning - the use of cloned embryos to harvest stem cells for medical use. Supporters say the approach offers unrivalled promise for the treatment of many diseases, such as Parkinson's and diabetes. Opponents, many of whom also oppose abortion, say that the resultant death of the embryo is absolutely unacceptable. Scientists see the Iranian-led compromise as the least worst option. "No decision is better than the wrong decision," says Bob Ward, spokesperson for the UK's premier scientific association, the Royal Society. Ian Wilmut, who led the cloning of the first adult mammal, Dolly the sheep, agrees: "I think it is a lesser evil to have this solution than to have a complete ban." Full article over at the New Scientist.