British Embryo Bill makes Russian Church seriously concerned

26 March 2008, 12:40

Moscow, March 26, Interfax - New research by British geneticists - the creation of an embryo by injecting human DNA into an animal cell - need scrutiny, likewise they need to control from the Church and public, deputy head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin told Interfax-Religion.

"Such an embryo cannot be considered as a human being. That is why its creation and its further destruction for medical purposes, at first glance, does not breach any formal requirements of the Christian morality," the priest said.

The Russian Orthodox Church does not however condemn "cloning separate cells and tissues of an organism to treat serious diseases," he said.

Recent British research could eventually turn out to be "a violent blow on the integrity of the nature granted to us by God," he said in comments on the Human Fertilization and Embryology Bill, currently being discussed by the British Parliament.

The bill stipulates that human DNA can be placed in a cell of an animal in order to create an embryo suitable for further research. Geneticists claim that the study of such embryo will help to better understand the nature of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease.

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