The Education Ministry's Science Council today accepted a study group's recommendations to regulate research into human cloning, according to sources close to the council. The move comes amid heated debate on the ethics of cloning following the birth of calves cloned from adult cow cells in Kanazawa on July 5, and the earlier cloning of a sheep in England. The draft of the guidelines prohibits research into human cloning or the step that proceeds it which involves transplanting the nucleus of cells into egg cells whose nucleus has been taken out. The guidelines will be re-evaluated every three years or earlier if necessary, council members say.