Vatican condemns British license for cloning human embryos

Published: 2004-08-12

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican condemned the British government's permission to a group of researchers to clone human embryos for therapeutic aims. Calling the new move "morally unacceptable," the Vatican's spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, reiterated the church's position on artificially creating human embryos. Pope "John Paul II firmly condemns any type of human cloning," he told reporters Aug. 11, the same day British regulators gave a group of scientists permission to clone human embryos to produce stem cells to treat disease. It marked the first time the British government, through its watchdog agency, the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, granted researchers a license for the procedure since the government legalized cloning for therapeutic reasons in 2001. Cloning human embryos for reproductive purposes is still illegal in the United Kingdom. The British-based research team receiving the license is made up of experts from the Institute of Human Genetics at Newcastle, England, and the Newcastle Fertility Centre.

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