Expansionary Institute

Michael Zey
futurist3000@aol.com

 
ROME, Dec 28 (Reuters) - A team of scientists will hand Italy's health minister a report on Thursday backing human embryo cloning, a form of research allowed in other countries but rejected by the Vatican.

Following months of evaluation, a group of 25 appointed experts will hand Health Minister Umberto Veronesi a document backing therapeutic cloning of stem cells taken from human embryos, Rome's la Repubblica newspaper reported on Thursday.

The health ministry said Veronesi was due to hold a news conference at 1400 GMT to present the experts' findings. A spokeswoman said la Repubblica's report was generally accurate but details would only be released at the news conference.

Therapeutic cloning has received the go-ahead in Britain, France, Germany and the United States and promises to have a huge impact on research into incurable degenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's and spinal injuries.

But the research has drawn sharp criticism because it relies on stem cells -- the undifferentiated cells which develop into all the different tissues of the body -- and in effect allows scientists to create human beings and then kill them.

If the research is approved in strongly Catholic Italy, it is likely to face widespread opposition. Pope John Paul has already expressed his disapproval on several occasions.

Italy announced it would investigate the benefits and ethical pitfalls of human embryo cloning earlier this year, soon after Britain recommended that scientists should be allowed to expand their research in the field.

The experts, led by Nobel laureate Renato Dulbecco, were asked to study not just the various forms and techniques of human embryo cloning, but also the ethical dimensions of the research.

The Vatican criticised Britain's decision and condemned cloning as a "gross violation" that would sully the blood of innocents. The Roman Catholic Church opposes tampering with embryos of any kind, teaching that life begins at the moment of conception and ends with natural death.

The Pope has spoken out about the dangers of pushing the boundaries of medical research too far, telling international transplant experts at a conference last August that human embryo cloning was "morally unacceptable."

"Every medical procedure performed on the human person is subject to limits: not just the limits of what is technically possible, but also limits determined by respect for human nature itself," the 80-year-old Pontiff said.

"What is technically possible is not for that reason alone morally admissible."

04:51 12-28-00

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