Ban all human cloning

Sydney
9 December 2001

Ban all human cloning – bishops

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Ban all human cloning – bishops

By Chris Hook

Australia’s Catholic Bishops have called for national legis lation to ban all forms of human cloning, in the wake of claims by an American biotech company that it has successfully cloned human embryos.

Advanced Cell Technology announced that it had injected eight eggs taken from volunteers with nuclei taken from adult cells.

Two eggs then divided to form early embryos of four cells, with one dividing to six cells before it stopped.

The technology used is similar to that which produced Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell.

Scientists were attempting to produce an embryo that divided into 100 cells so they could extract stem-cells.

Stem cells are “master cells” that can be potentially developed into other cells required by the body. Scientists say that this might lead to cures for diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, as well as treating damage to the spinal cord.

But the president of the Australian Catholic Bish ops’ Conference, Archbishop Francis Carroll, said these claims were “being presented in sensational terms”.

“In the case of cloning, human embryos, the most vulnerable and completely voiceless members of the human family are destroyed on the pretext that they contain cells which may, at some time in the future, provide some cure for a wide range of medical conditions,” he said.

“The claims of bio-tech companies remain, at best, conjectural.”

Noting that the Council of Australian Governments would meet next year to consider the recommendations of the recent Andrews Committee – which called for a national approach to cloning – Archbishop Carroll urged political leaders to “heed the community call to be watchful about the scientific and commercial exploitation of all human life”.

Advanced Cell Tech nology’s announcement also brought condemnation from the Vatican.

In a communiqué issued by the Holy See press office, the Vatican said that even though this life had been “created” it preserved “its dignity, just as that of every other human life brought into existence”.

“The event, therefore, powerfully brings us to repeat with force that the beginning of human life cannot be fixed by convention at a certain stage of development of an emb ryo,” the communiqué said. “It exists, in reality, at the very first instant of the existence of the embryo itself.”

Australian observers were equally damning of the experiment.

The Melbourne-based ethicist Dr Nicholas Tonti-Filippini labelled the US announcement “extremely disappointing”.

“It’s far, far worse than anything we’ve seen,” he said. Dr Tonti-Filippini urged the Federal Govern ment to introduce national legislation to ban cloning and said the issue required a conscience vote.

Catholic Health Australia also urged national legis lation to ban cloning and research into embryonic stem cells.

“Legislators must be very clear,” said the head of Catholic Health, Francis Sullivan.

“Embryonic stem cell research ultimately destroys human life and must be banned.

“Legislators must not be manipulated by those seeking to profit by placing one human life above another,” Mr Sullivan said.