Trade Accord
Gets Push
Former
U.S. Ambassador to Chile John O'Leary described the ''perfect
storm'' unfolding over any attempted passage of a Central
American free-trade agreement during the tough election year
approaching.
But drawing from Chile's
experience with a free-trade accord, O'Leary told the Central
America - U.S. Chamber of Commerce that negotiators should forge
ahead to finish the negotiations on schedule.
''The negotiators ought to give
it their best shot,'' O'Leary said.
He spoke at a luncheon meeting of
business executives interested in how the U.S.-Chile free-trade
agreement could apply to the current U.S. negotiations with
Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
Negotiations to liberalize trade
and investment in the region are slated for completion by the
end of the year. Trade negotiations took place last week in
Managua, and the next round is scheduled for Oct. 20-25 in
Houston. Central American countries already have beneficial
access for apparel in the United States; the new accord would
require them to lower their tariff barriers for additional U.S.
market access.
O'Leary said some experts see
''almost the perfect storm'' if a trade agreement with the five
small countries hits the floor of Congress during the coming
campaign. President Bush and the House of Representatives face
tough elections with the backdrop of the loss of some 2.7
million jobs since Bush took office.
''One lesson you learn is to
seize the moment,'' O'Leary said, explaining why he would
encourage Central America to stay on the established timetable.
Poll Pay Compete
in Athens After Ban Reduced
Costa Rica's
1996 Olympic 200 metres freestyle champion Claudia
Poll has had her four-year ban for doping reduced to
two years and will return to competition in time for
next year's Athens Olympics.
Her coach Francisco
Rivas says Poll will return to the pool in March 26,
five months before the Games begin, after swimming's
governing body FINA cut her ban.
"She has never
stopped training and is in the shape to achieve the
qualifying standard for Athens," he said.
Poll, 30, was banned
after testing positive for the steroid nandrolone in
an out-of-competition test in February last year.
The Lausanne-based
Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) turned down
Poll's claims of irregularities during the test and
subsequent laboratory analysis and upheld the
four-year FINA ban.
The Costa Rican said
she would take her battle to the Swiss courts,
although it was not immediately clear whether the
reduction in her ban was as a result of that legal
action.
Call for Human
Reproductive Cloning Ban
Most of the world's scientific academies called yesterday for an international convention to ban human reproductive cloning but allow "therapeutic cloning" for medical research.
Their statement - signed by 63 national academies - was designed to head off calls for a ban on all forms of human cloning when the United Nations debates the issue next week. A resolution proposed by Costa Rica and 40 other countries, including the US, would ban the production of cloned embryos even for research.
Disagreement over the scope of a convention on cloning has so far prevented much progress. Diplomats from some European countries are blocking what they regard as an excessively restrictive resolution.
The scientific academies said reproductive cloning was so dangerous - regardless of any moral qualms - that a worldwide ban was needed as soon as possible. Matters should not be delayed by arguments about whether therapeutic cloning should be allowed.
"Animal studies on reproductive cloning show a high incidence of foetal disorders and spontaneous abortions and of malformation and death among newborns," said Lord May, president of Britain's Royal Society. "There is no reason to suppose that the outcome would be different in humans."
"Human reproductive cloning is already illegal in some countries [about 30] but many others have yet to pass any laws or regulations," said Yves Quéré, chairman of the InterAcademy on International Issues' executive committee. "Failure by the international community to issue a worldwide ban on human reproductive cloning will enable unscrupulous individuals to continue to experiment on humans."
At least three groups have said this year that they are trying to produce cloned babies.
A large majority of scientific academies endorsed the statement, including those from the US, Cuba, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Pakistan, India, China and Japan. According to the Royal Society, only six academies refused to sign: Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Slovenia, Spain and the Vatican.
Cloning very early embryos for research into harvesting stem cells "could help to improve or save the lives of millions of patients worldwide," Lord May said.
|
