The first clone of a human being?

[Guest guest]

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican (news - web sites) joined leading Muslim

clerics and Jewish rabbis in denouncing as immoral, " brutal " and

unnatural the claim that a cloned baby had been born. Political

leaders, meanwhile, stepped up calls for a global ban on human

cloning.

 

The reaction Saturday came a day after a cloning company whose leader

believes space aliens launched life on Earth announced that a baby

girl, nicknamed " Eve, " had been born as a clone of her mother.

 

There was no scientific confirmation, however, and the announcement

was met with doubt by the scientific community and revulsion by

ethicists, who have voiced alarm about the implications of

duplicating humans, saying it would compromise freedom and

individuality.

 

A Vatican statement Saturday noted that the announcement came with no

scientific proof and that it " has already given rise to the

skepticism and moral condemnation of a great part of the

international scientific community. "

 

But " the announcement in itself is an expression of a brutal

mentality, devoid of any ethical and human consideration, " said the

statement from papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls.

 

The Vatican has condemned any cloning of human embryos, saying the

destruction of extra embryos in the process can in no way justify the

procedure. Vatican teaching holds that life begins at conception.

 

Pope John Paul (news - web sites) II himself has criticized any

scientific experiment that threatens the dignity of a human life,

including using human embryos for stem cell research.

 

Clonaid chief executive Brigitte Boisselier, a 46-year-old chemist

with two doctoral degrees but no background in cloning, made the

announcement of a cloned baby girl Friday at a press conference in

Hollywood, Florida.

 

Clonaid was founded by the Raelian sect, which describes

its " scientific creation " theology as an alternative to both

Darwinian evolution and the creation dogma of some religions. The

sect's leader, Rael, claims life on earth was created by

extraterrestrials through genetic engineering.

 

In the Muslim world, clerics said cloning humans disrupted natural

law and would create a " chaotic " future for humanity.

 

" Science must be regulated by firm laws to preserve humanity and its

dignity, " said Ali Abu el-Hassan, a cleric from Egypt's al-Azhar

University, the top religious institution in the Muslim Sunni world.

 

Separately, a senior Saudi cleric, Ayed bin Ahmad al-Qurani, drew a

distinction between human cloning and cloning of plants or animals,

which he said could serve humanity.

 

Human cloning is wrong " because it will cause an imbalance in the

human nature God has created, " and it would lead to the spread of

unknown diseases, he said. In addition, it could replace marriage for

the sake of reproduction through one gender without the need for the

other, which is " sinful, sinful, sinful, " he said.

 

In Jerusalem, Israel's Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau said that in

principle, Judaism favors technological developments and medical

progress that can help save a life or solve infertility problems, but

rejects the artificial creation of life.

 

" The moment medical science tries to take upon itself duties and

areas which are not its responsibility such as shortening life,

cloning, or creating life in an unnatural way we must set down

borders in order not to harm the basic belief that there is a creator

of the universe in whose hands life and death are placed, " a

statement from Lau's office said.

 

Several countries have already banned human cloning, including

Germany and Britain. Others have legislation pending that would ban

it or restrict it, such as Sweden, where the government is drafting

legislation that would ban reproductive cloning but

allow " therapeutic " cloning.

 

The United States has no specific law against human cloning. But the

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites), which regulates

human experiments, says its regulations forbid human cloning without

prior agency permission, and it has launched an investigation into

whether Clonaid illegally performed any of the work on U.S. soil.

 

The United States has proposed a U.N. treaty banning all human

cloning. France and Germany have proposed an alternative which would

ban only cloning to produce babies, leaving the question of cloning

for research and medical experiments for future consideration.

 

On Friday, French President Jacques Chirac vigorously condemned the

announced birth and repeated calls for a worldwide ban on attempts to

clone humans, which he said was " contrary to the dignity of man. "

 

At the United Nations (news - web sites), a spokesman for Secretary-

General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) said the organization was

waiting for scientific proof. " In any case, no one should expect the

secretary-general to send flowers, " the spokesman said.

 

 

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