Church in fresh attack on research
Church in fresh attack on research
2008-04-11Newsfeed
The leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland has posted a video on YouTube in a fresh attack on controversial proposals for embryo research.
The leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland has posted a video on YouTube in a fresh attack on controversial proposals for embryo research.
The video sets out Cardinal Keith O'Brien's opposition to legislation which would allow scientists to create human-animal embryos for research.
It comes after the Cardinal used his Easter Sunday sermon to attack proposals in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, claiming they would lead to experiments of "Frankenstein proportions".
Now he has said that the Catholic Church in Scotland still has "many, many concerns" about the Bill.
He said: "What concerns us, in particular, is the possibility of animal-human hybrids being produced.
"This is something which causes us a tremendous concern, because we are dealing with life, human life at its very beginnings.
"And the possibility of a mixing up of human life and animal life at its beginnings, this quite simply is abhorrent to us as Catholic Christians."
Supporters of the Bill say the use of so-called hybrid embryos could lead to cures for diseases including multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease.
Cardinal O'Brien said: "Let me state very, very clearly I am not against medical science or research into aspects of seeking cures for these terrible diseases that afflict so many of us.
"But what I am against is using human life to seek cures for these diseases."
Copyright © The Press Association 2008
