JOHN SMEATON, DIRECTOR OF SPUC: Scientists should stop killing and abusing human beings in experiments

Thursday, 15 April 2010

Scientists should stop killing and abusing human beings in experiments

SPUC has responded to the news that scientists in Newcastle, England, have created embryos using genetic material from two women and one man in order to address mitochondrial diseases.

Anthony Ozimic, SPUC's communications manager, told the media this morning:

"Scientists should stop killing and abusing human beings in experiments. None of the 80 or more embryos created by the Newcastle team were allowed to live. Each of those embryos were members of the human family, with a right to life equal to those of the scientists who killed them. Human life begins at conception. Any grounds for denying human rights to human embryos are arbitrary and self-serving.

"Creating embryonic children in the laboratory abuses them, by subjecting them to unnatural processes. As with IVF and cloning, this mitochondrial technique may well lead to developmental abnormalities.

"Scientists should respect human life and pursue ethical alternatives which are much more likely to be successful in the long-term."

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About Me

I became involved in SPUC after graduating, when I established a branch in south London in 1974. I have worked full-time for SPUC for 42 years. I became chief executive of SPUC in the UK in 1996, having been general secretary since 1978. I was elected vice-president of International Right to Life Federation in 2005. At UN conferences in Cairo, Copenhagen, Beijing, Istanbul and Rome, I helped coordinate more than 150 pro-life/pro-family groups resulting in pro-life victories in Cairo, Istanbul and Rome. I was educated at Salesian College, London, before going to Oxford where I graduated in English Language and Literature. I qualified as a teacher, becoming head of English at a secondary school. I am married to Josephine. We have a grown-up family and we live in north London.