The German Episcopal Conference has reaffirmed a clear rejection of any form of cloning of human embryos. On 20 October on the eve of the resumption of consultations on a cloning ban at the level of the United Nations scheduled from 21 October on the German bishops issued an appeal, signed by their general secretary, Father Langendörfer, and aimed at the representatives of the German federal government. “It is not enough to keep under observation cloning for further implants”, declare the bishops, since “the cloning of human embryos for purposes of biomedical research, so called cloning for research, must also be banned in an unequivocal manner”. Cloning for research, they continue “is contrary to the dignity and right to life of the human embryo”; for it means that the embryo is “used to transfer its nucleus with a view to removing its stem cells, and then killed”. Even “the hope of being able to find in this way a cure to hitherto incurable diseases does not justify the exploitation and killing of human forms of life”, stress the bishops. “Instead”, the statement continues, “alternative and ethically licit methods of research need to be pursued”. For these reasons, concludes the secretary of the German episcopate, it is to be hoped that “the representatives of the federal government, present at the consultations with a view to a ban on cloning at the UN, will express themselves in favour of a total ban at the world level, and therefore one that would prohibit both cloning for reproductive and for research purposes”.
