The UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, has said he supports the cloning of human embryos for medical research, a procedure the US wants to ban worldwide.
Mr Annan's comments coincided with the start of a two-day debate at the UN on the controversial issue of cloning.
Two motions are being considered by the legal committee of the General Assembly.
One calls for a ban on all cloning. The other would ban the cloning of humans but would let countries decide for themselves whether or not to allow therapeutic cloning for research.
