BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Parliament condemned the British decision to allow cloning of human fetuses at the end of an emergency debate at its plenary session in Strasbourg, France, on Sept. 7. But the resolution only just squeezed through; it was adopted with 237 votes in favor, 230 against, and 43 abstentions - thus guaranteeing continuing tensions in the European Union regulatory background.

The resolution acknowledged the undoubted need for medical research based on advances in knowledge of human genetics, but insisted that all research must be subject to strict ethical and social constraints. It backed in principle the idea of setting up a temporary Parliament committee to examine the ethical and legal issues raised by new developments in human genetics. But to avoid any new committee adopting too independent a line, it also insisted that if the committee is set up, it should take as a starting point the largely conservative views already expressed in Parliament's previous resolutions - and this provision in effect sabotaged attempts by the Parliament's socialist and liberal groups to win support for the immediate establishment of the committee.

The majority political groups in Parliament wanted to express their concerns without, for the moment, demanding new legislation. But some of the smaller parliamentary groups adopted more extreme positions. Leading Green-group Euro-MP Paul Lannoye of Belgium condemned the UK decision to allow cloning, complaining that the UK had acted without consulting its EU partner governments. "The UK has broken the consensus that existed in Europe," he said. The leader of the United Left group in the Parliament, Francis Wurtz, also called for a complete ban on all research and commercial exploitation of cloning, and demanded a special committee of enquiry to assess whether the UK was entitled to act autonomously in this way. And Nicole Thomas-Mauro of the United Europe group described cloning as a new form of slavery and intellectual terrorism.

The resolution adopted - which is non-binding but will have a significant political influence on the way the EU and its member states make up their minds - insists upon Parliament's role in keeping human rights and respect for human dignity and human life constantly in mind. And it says that therapeutic cloning, in terms of the creation of human embryos purely for research purposes, poses an ethical dilemma, crosses a boundary in research norms, and runs contrary to public policy as adopted by the European Union. In this connection, the Parliament resolution also repeated an earlier call for human artificial insemination techniques not to produce an excessive number of embryos. It points out that the EU's own research program already limits cloning with a provision that "no research activity understood in the sense of the term 'cloning' . . . a cell from an embryo or a cell coming from a later stage of development to the human embryo will be supported."

National and EU authorities are specifically urged by the Parliament to ensure that the existing EU limitations on patenting or cloning human beings are reaffirmed and that appropriate binding rules are adopted. The UK government is asked to review its position on human embryo cloning, and members of the UK parliament are called upon "to exercise their votes of conscience" and reject, when it is laid before them, the proposal to permit research using embryos created by cell nuclear transfer. All member states are asked to enact binding legislation prohibiting all research into any kind of human cloning within their territory and providing penalties for any breach of such a ban.

The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, currently in the drafting stage, is also invoked by the resolution. The new charter should include a ban on the cloning of human beings at all stages of their development, says the European Parliament, which also reiterates its position that a ban on human cloning should be introduced at the United Nations level.

The move won strong support in some of the European press. Belgium's conservative Catholic daily La Libre Belgique printed the Parliament's resolution on its front page, while La Stampa in Milan suggested collective euthanasia would stand a better chance than human cloning of winning approval in the European Parliament.

European Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin spoke ambiguously during the debate in the Parliament. He advocated both that Europe be a "zone of ethics," and that the EU leave it up to member states to make up their own national rules on questions of this nature. He said dialogue between all parties should be engaged before any new laws are created to cover cloning.

In his view, the EU's principal role is to guarantee the freedom and integrity of the individual, including his or her genetic sequences - something that the EU covers via its legislation on patents. But he indicated that the report of the EU's ethics advisory group, expected in November, would be "decisive."

Meanwhile, the Czech government has also indicated its support for a ban on cloning human beings. Health Minister Bohumil Fiser said the government would push for an international convention for the protection of human rights and dignity in connection with cloning. But the Czech position still leaves open the possibility of cloning for therapeutic purposes. An August poll by the Sofres-Factum polling agency showed that 56 percent of Czechs agreed with cloning human embryos for laboratory production of tissue and organs for medical purposes, while almost 80 percent said they were afraid of abuses.