WASHINGTON?The newly installed panel of White House bioethics advisers began work Thursday with a broad discussion of the value of human life and a promise to tackle the dicey subject of human cloning.

The 18-member President’s Council on Bioethics planned to address whether a ban on cloning should include research and medical treatments, or be limited to efforts to create a human being.

To date, no one has cloned a human, which would be the genetic equivalent of a twin brother or sister born later. But scientists have cloned several animals, and last fall, researchers announced that they had created a human embryo clone in order to extract the stem cells for research.

The council is also charged with examining this stem cell research, as well as euthanasia and assisted reproduction, typically in vitro fertilization, but planned to address cloning first.

President Bush has said he favors a total ban.