EU lawmakers back animal cloning ban including for imports

European lawmakers have backed plans to ban animal cloning and want an embargo on imports of cloned animals and their offspring.

The backing for the proposed ban came in a report adopted in the European Parliament on Tuesday by a 529-120 vote, with 57 abstentions.

The German lawmaker leading the report through the assembly, Renate Sommer, warned that "the technique of cloning is not fully mature, and in fact, no further progress has been made."

She said many cloned animals "die in the first few weeks, and they die painfully. Should we allow that?"

Consumer research shows that most Europeans oppose animal cloning and wouldn't buy foods produced from cloned animals.

Lawmakers and EU nations will now start negotiating a draft law to introduce a ban.