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May. 20 (CWNews.com) - The president of the Pontifical Academy for Life has strongly condemned the production of cloned human embryos by scientists in South Korea.
Bishop Elio Sgreccia told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera that the advance trumpeted by researchers at the National University of South Korea were “abominable,” since they had created human embryos solely to be destroyed and harvested for stem cells.
The Korean scientists announced that they had produced 31 embryos, direct clones of 11 living persons, in their laboratories. These human embryos were produced using a technique similar to that used by the scientists who produced the lamb named Dolly, the first cloned mammal, in England nine years ago.
The cloned embryos are to be used for the production of stem cells, which could be used in fighting diseases. Bishop Sgreccia emphasized, however, that the Korean scientists were engaged in the technique known as “therapeutic cloning.” In that process, he stressed, any possible medical benefit “follows the suppression of one or more embryos.”
“The suppression of a human being can merit only one judgment: it is unacceptable,” the Italian prelate said. “To destroy one life in order to save another remains an aberration.”
Full article
Bishop Elio Sgreccia told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera that the advance trumpeted by researchers at the National University of South Korea were “abominable,” since they had created human embryos solely to be destroyed and harvested for stem cells.
The Korean scientists announced that they had produced 31 embryos, direct clones of 11 living persons, in their laboratories. These human embryos were produced using a technique similar to that used by the scientists who produced the lamb named Dolly, the first cloned mammal, in England nine years ago.
The cloned embryos are to be used for the production of stem cells, which could be used in fighting diseases. Bishop Sgreccia emphasized, however, that the Korean scientists were engaged in the technique known as “therapeutic cloning.” In that process, he stressed, any possible medical benefit “follows the suppression of one or more embryos.”
“The suppression of a human being can merit only one judgment: it is unacceptable,” the Italian prelate said. “To destroy one life in order to save another remains an aberration.”
Full article