AUSTRALIA’S bishops have written to Prime Minister John Howard endorsing a planned ban on cloning but expressing deep concern about a decision to allow destructive research on embryos.
In their May 14 letter to Mr Howard, released to the media on May 22, the bishops say full information should be made available on the issue, especially to all parliamentarians.
The letter was delivered before last week’s private consultations by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
The NHMRC has discussed a draft bill which would implement the Council of Australian Governments’ (COAG) April decision to ban cloning but to allow the harvesting of stem cells from frozen embryos.
The bishops want to have made available published work by Australian embryonic stem cell researchers, apparently used by COAG in reaching its decision, along with the extensive and growing research findings by adult stem cell researchers.
The bishops’ letter recalls Mr Howard’s April 4 statement that decisions about embryonic stem cells affect ‘the way in which (human life) should be revered and treated, the way in which we should hallow our very existence’.
