UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- UN member states voted on Friday for a non-binding political declaration which calls for prohibiting all forms of human cloning. 

    A text presented by Honduras was adopted by the UN General Assembly's legal committee, in a vote of 71 to 35, with 43 countries abstaining.

    "Member states are called upon to prohibit all forms of human cloning in as much as they are incompatible with human dignity and the protection of human life," the declaration said.

    Belgium, which favors cloning of human embryos for medical research, proposed amendments to Honduras' text, but the amendments were rejected.

    In a speech following the vote, Chinese representative Su Wei said the declaration will not be legally binding on his country and China will continue therapeutical cloning. His reaction was echoed by Singapore, Britain and many other countries. Enditem