VATICAN CITY, NOV. 9, 2003 (Zenit.org).- The Holy See was “disappointed” with a U.N. Commission’s on human cloning last Thursday.
Those nations which support cloning do so to produce – and eliminate – human embryos as research material (a practice commonly called “therapeutic” cloning). Though these countries are in the minority, 80 U.N. member states voted to postpone by two years a global ban on the practice; 15 states abstained.
The Vatican fingered “undisclosed” economic interests as the cause.
“Two very clear positions were taken: one around the draft resolution of Costa Rica; the other around the draft resolution of Belgium,” Vatican U.N. Permanent Observer, Archbishop Migliore, told Vatican Radio.
“Costa Rica proposed the use of adult stem cells for therapies for incurable diseases, the total prohibition of the cloning of human embryos, that is, the prohibition of both ‘reproductive’ as well as ‘therapeutic’ cloning.
Belgium’s position, which translated into a resolution for the Franco-German side, proposed…a prohibition on reproductive cloning but left open…several doors to therapeutic cloning,” he said.
The postponement “means accepting that for two years we continue having an international juridical vacuum, allowing possible experiments to continue.
With this procedure, the possibility of expressing oneself on an essential question…is practically stopped.
“Undoubtedly…economic and commercial questions…have held great weight behind the scenes,” Migliore concluded.
