EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT VOTES TO BAN HUMAN EMBRYO CLONING

STRASBOURG, April 10, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted today to ban human cloning for reproductive and therapeutic purposes as well as to place restrictions on research on human embryos.  MEPs will have to approve the measure a second time and it must also be approved by a majority of member countries before the legislation can come into effect.  The UK is the only country in Europe with legislation on the subject allowing for human cloning.  Not surprisingly, UK MEP David Bowe, the Labour government’s environment spokesman, complained at the result.  Bowe told the BBC: “I am quite annoyed about it. It is wrong for the religious right to assert its own moral view on the rest of us.  There is no moral consensus in Europe on this and it really should be left up to individual member states to decide. We are going to start working very hard to ensure these amendments don’t go through.”  However, British pro-lifers are delighted by the vote.  Paul Tully, of the UK Society for the Protection of Unborn Children said: “The UK’s national laws on embryo research and so-called therapeutic cloning are some of the most permissive in the world. We applaud MEPs for their stand in support of the dignity of the human embryo today, which is in marked contrast to the morally bankrupt position of our own government.  This is the third time in as many years that MEPs have signaled their rejection of cloning for experimental purposes, and again today they have acted to isolate Tony Blair’s government, whose support for destructive research on cloned embryos is unique in Europe and makes Britain a pariah state on the issue.”  See the BBC coverage:  https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2932421.stm