News

OTTAWA, November 27, 2001 (LSN.ca) – Prime Minister Jean Chretien has come out publicly against human 'therapeutic' cloning as proposed and executed by Advanced Cell Technology over the weekend. Questioned on the practice Chretien referred to the draft legislation on the subject which he claims bans human reproductive as well as therapeutic cloning. “This bill clearly indicates that the government, and I hope the House, is opposed to this practice,” Mr. Chretien said.

Stockwell Day, Leader of the Opposition condemned human cloning and called on the government to fast-track a ban on the procedure. “Cloning a human embryo, creating a new human being, creating life for the purpose of destroying it just to harvest its cells is simply and absolutely wrong, especially so since science is offering us great potential with adult stem-cell research,” said Day yesterday. “It was over seven years ago that the government promised legislation to deal with the whole issue of reproductive cloning and still we have seen nothing.” The Liberal government is thus far refusing to speed up the ban on human cloning.

In related news, the Democrat-led US Senate has also said it would not fast-track anti-cloning legislation, and likely would not address the issue till next year.