VATICAN, Aug. 24 (CWNews.com)

    The Pontifical Academy for Life has issued a warning against efforts to promote the cloning of human beings.

    The August 24 statement from the Pontifical Academy reiterated the Church teaching that human cloning can never be morally acceptable, even if the procedure is intended to advance the cause of science or the treatment of grave illness.

    Taking note of an intense lobbying campaign in favor of research on human embryos, the 5-page statement called for new efforts to increase public awareness of the ethical problems involved with such research. The Academy noted that public pressure for the approval of various forms of cloning and human experimentation had been most obvious in the United States, England, Australia, and Japan. The statement was issued the day after the US government approved funding for research on human embryos, and less than a week after a similar government policy change in England.

    A human embryo should be recognized as a human person, the Academy argued, and accorded the dignity that should be shown for all human beings. Thus the embryo should never be used as an object, to be manipulated and even destroyed for the benefit of another person.

    The Vatican statement points out that popular forms of embryo research require the artificial production of fertilized embryos, which are then discarded or destroyed after the desired cells have been obtained.

    While it is immoral to destroy these embryos, the statement went on, it is also morally wrong to engage in research using the cells that are obtained by those immoral means. Such use of embryonic cells or tissues would involve material cooperation in the destruction of human life.

    The Academy also pointed out that it is possible to obtain stem cells from adult human beings, without any loss of human life. If the research on stem cells might produce new means of fighting disease, the Vatican paper reasons, the cells used for research should be obtained by these means, which are not morally objectionable.

    The statement was signed by the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Professor Juan de Dios Vial Correa, and the vice-president, Bishop Elio Sgreccia.

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