Cardinal, bishops’ conference prez condemn Australian cloning plan
Jan 07, 2006
The president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, the cardinal archbishop of Sydney and pro-life groups have condemned an Australian government report backing the easing of laws on cloning and embryo research.
SYDNEY, Australia (Catholic Weekly/Zenit, 12/26/2005) – “It is a matter of regret and a further step towards reducing the respect and dignity of human life,” said Archbishop Francis Carroll, of Canberra and Goulburn and bishops’ conference head, the Catholic Weekly here.reported Dec. 25. It is a “matter of great disappointment and sadness,” he added.
Cardinal George Pell of Sydney released a statement on Dec. 22 criticizing the Report of the Lockhart Committee as "out of step with human values," the Australian newspaper The Age reported.
The six-month inquiry reviewed the 2002 law, which banned cloning and prohibited the creation of human embryos for the purpose of experimental destruction, and called for dramatic relaxation of those restrictions and backed the practice of “therapeutic cloning.”.
Under the recommendations, scientists would be able to perform procedures including the creation of cloned human embryos for scientific study, the mixing of animal and human material to obtain stem cells and the creation of embryos from the DNA of two or more people.
But the committee agreed that the existing prohibitions in place to prevent reproductive cloning and the placement of prohibited embryos in the body of a woman should be maintained.
Cardinal Pell denounced the report's lack of respect for the human embryo. "The report takes it for granted that human embryos are merely a 'resource' to be exploited like an inferior animal or plant," he said.
Cardinal Pell said the report proposes the "manufacturing a specific subclass of living human beings solely for use as research material."
"All human cloning is reproductive because all human cloning creates new human life," said the cardinal. "It is never 'therapeutic' to destroy human life, and creating human life for the sole purpose of killing for disputed scientific reasons makes a mockery of the therapeutic purpose of medical science."
"The Lockhart Report points the way to a destructive dead-end and provides no compelling reason for Parliament to change the existing law. We call on the Australian community and its legislators to reject it," he said.
Julie Bishop, Australian minister for aging, who commissioned the report, said the review would be discussed at February’s Premiers’ Conference.
She said the conference could lead to a parliamentary vote, depending on what changes were proposed, the Catholic Weekly reported.
Cardinal, bishops’ conference prez condemn Australian cloning plan