The license will allow the institute, which produced Dolly the sheep, to research a technique known as parthenogenesis and to perform experiments on human embryos, the archbishop’s office said in a statement today.
Archbishop Conti said: «Instead of research into areas like parthenogenesis, which lie at the edges of scientific speculation, it would be far more productive to concentrate our efforts on the study of stem cells which can be readily and ethically harvested from such sources as placenta and bone marrow.
«It is here that positive progress is being made which offers some hope to those suffering from distressing medical conditions.»
He added: «Any techniques which do not respect the integrity of individual embryos; which experiment on living embryos or what may be embryos — and that includes the techniques now being granted a license — cannot be considered morally legitimate means, even if the end which they seek … is in itself good.»
