Canadian Prime Minister Comes Out Against «Therapeutic» Cloning

OTTAWA, Nov 28, 01 (LSN.ca/CWNews.com) - Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien has come out publicly against so-called "therapeutic" human cloning which would create cloned human embryos for the harvesting of their cells, but then kill them so that they can't be born.

Questioned on the practice following the announcement by a US company that it had created a cloned human, Chretien referred to the draft legislation on the subject which he claims bans human reproductive, as well as therapeutic, cloning. "This bill clearly indicates that the government, and I hope the House, is opposed to this practice," Chretien said.

Stockwell Day, Leader of the Opposition, condemned human cloning and called on the government to fast-track a ban on the procedure. "Cloning a human embryo, creating a new human being, creating life for the purpose of destroying it just to harvest its cells is simply and absolutely wrong, especially so since science is offering us great potential with adult stem-cell research," said Day. "It was over seven years ago that the government promised legislation to deal with the whole issue of reproductive cloning and still we have seen nothing." The Liberal government is thus far refusing to speed up the ban on human cloning.

Catholic World News Service - Daily News Briefs
28. november 2001