ROME, NOV. 27, 2001 (Zenit.org).- The human cloning experiment announced in the United States brings to mind the «crimes against humanity of a Nazi brand,» says an Orthodox Church leader.
«The destruction of an embryo is equivalent to an abortion, in other words, a homicide,» said Father Antoni Ilin, a spokesman for the Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow.
«We condemn human cloning, whether for therapeutic or reproductive ends,» he said. «From the moment of conception, the embryo is invested with human dignity and blessed with the gift of life. So-called therapeutic cloning is nothing other than the worst instrumentalization of a human being, sacrificed for the benefit of others.»
On Sunday, a U.S. firm, Advanced Cell Technology, announced it had cloned an embryonic human being but later destroyed it.
For its part, the Union of Muslim Communities in Italy stated: «We simply and absolutely condemn any attempt to modify or imitate creation.»
«Even if they say that they do not intend reproductive but therapeutic cloning, they are sorcerer´s apprentices who don´t know where they will end up,» the secretary of the Union, Roberto Hamza, said. «It is a defiance against God that will lead to grave disasters.»
The new chief rabbi of Rome, physician Riccardo Di Segni, commented that he was following very closely «all progress related to procreation techniques and the possible applications in the human realm. Anguishing scenarios emerge, which are difficult to control and, therefore, extreme caution is necessary.»
