The European Parliament has rejected a resolution calling for a ban of human cloning.
The vote was emphatic, 316 to 37, while 47 members abstained.
The result comes as a relief to scientists wanting to research the medical benefits of cloning.
It is, however, a setback for those hoping for a standardised ruling on cloning across the 15 EU member states.
Mr Robert Goebbels, chair of the special parliamentary committee on human genetics which tabled the resolution, said: "Practically everybody was unhappy about something. All the political groups rejected the report."
Italian conservative Mr Francesco Fiori, who wrote the resolution, now wants to try again. He says: "There is a shared will not to drop this - it is such an important matter."
Nine EU member states have passed laws banning research on stem cells and human embryos.