1           ITALY BANS CLONING -- In 2/04, the Italian Parliament voted, 277-222, to ban most assisted reproduction. President Ciampi signed the bill, which became law on 19Feb. It forbids doctors in Italy to perform techniques i.e. artificial insemination using donated sperm. Embryo freezing is outlawed, as are egg donation, surrogate motherhood and genetic analysis on early embryos before implantation. Assisted reproduction is limited to stable heterosexual couples: no single mothers/homosexuals allowed. Italy has become a refuge for “renegade scientists”. [NYT: 2Mar04, R.M. Henig is the author of "Pandora's Baby: How the First Test Tube Babies Sparked the Reproductive Revolution."]