Politics
Thursday November 21, 2002
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EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT VOTES FOR TOTAL BAN ON CLONING
British government now isolated with its support for "therapeutic" cloning
BRUSSELS, November 21, 2002 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The European Parliament voted today to ban all forms of human cloning. Members voted 271 to 154 to amend a paragraph of the "Report on the Commission communication on Life sciences and biotechnology - A Strategy for Europe" to call on member countries to ban human cloning for both reproductive and therapeutic purposes.
Euro-Fam, a pro-life group specializing in matters dealing with the European Union and Parliament, reports that the amended paragraph reads: "[The European Parliament] Solemnly reaffirms that the life and dignity of all human beings, whatever their stage of development and state of health, must be respected and is opposed to any form of research or use of life sciences and biotechnology that runs counter to this fundamental principle; Repeats its insistence that there should be a universal and specific ban at the level of the United Nations on the cloning of human beings at all stages of formation and development and urges the Commission and the Member States to work towards this end"
Jim Hughes, Vice President of the International Right To Life Federation (IRTLF) and National President of Campaign Life Coalition Canada told LifeSite, "at least there seems to be some parliament somewhere that has common sense. Hopefully it will send a message to parliaments everywhere that they should follow suit."
Paul Tully, general secretary of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), said: "We are delighted by this vote. It represents a clear rebuff of the Franco-German proposal at the United Nations for an international convention intended only to ban cloning for reproductive purposes, and further isolates the British government, which continues to support so-called therapeutic cloning despite the greater potential of ethical adult stem cell technology."
"The European parliament stated in 2000 that attempts to distinguish between 'therapeutic' and 'reproductive' cloning were merely examples of 'linguistic sleight of hand'. Indeed, all cloning is 'reproductive' insofar as a new and distinct human person is brought into being whatever the intended use to which the embryo will be put," said Tully.
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