Washington D.C., Jan 19, 2004 / 22:00 pm
There’s more than moral reason to object to therapeutic cloning, says the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in the latest communication from its pro-life office.
The idea of cloning human embryos for biomedical research has traditionally raised moral objections but also it now continues to raise objections in the scientific community on purely scientific grounds.
Despite initial optimistic statements about how embryonic cloning – also referred to as therapeutic cloning – could potentially cure life-threatening diseases, many scientists no longer expect therapeutic cloning to have a large clinical impact.
In order to highlight these scientific conclusions, the USCCB Secretariat for Pro-life Activities issued a collection of excerpts from recent articles in leading science magazines. Each excerpt argues against therapeutic cloning, based on scientific findings and laboratory research.