Cardinal Pell Slams Aussie Parliament Ruling on Embryo Cloning
Nov 20, 2006
A decision by the Australian Federal Parliament to allow the cloning of human embryos has been labelled as a "mistake" by the country’s top cleric.
(The Universe, November 21, 2006) The Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, said the move would push Australia “further and faster down a slippery slope”.
Cardinal Pell was commenting on the Australian Senate’s decision to allow scientists to clone human embryos for research. The senate did however ban the mixture of human eggs with animal eggs in a last minute compromise to appease critics who complained that therapeutic cloning would create human-animal hybrids.
The senate had been considering a private member’s bill put forward by former health minister Kay Patterson. It will now go to the House of Representatives, where it is widely expected it will win approval and become law.
Cardinal Pell said the debate was not between science and superstition, nor between religion and scepticism, but a debate about “the value to be given human life”.
“The bill before Parliament proposes that we reject the fundamental principle of medical research ethics – primum non nocere, first, do no harm – and that we condone the manufacture of laboratory human beings for destructive experiments,” he said.
“Few Australians would know that it is proposed to legalise the manufacture of cloned human embryos with only one genetic parent; hybrid embryos with multiple genetic parents; embryos whose genetic mother is an aborted girl foetus, and human-animal crosses.
“Few Australians realise that these will be destroyed after experimentation and dismemberment for parts such as stem cells.”
He added: “Any substantial progress so far has come from other stem cells. The uncertain prospect of financial gain should not blind us to this lack of progress.”
Cardinal Pell Slams Aussie Parliament Ruling on Embryo Cloning