Mitochondria technique approval 'dangerous' says pro life group SPUC

Mitochondria technique approval 'dangerous' says pro-life group SPUC   London, , 00.01: Approval for new and controversial embryo techniques is 'dangerous', said the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) www.spuc.org.uk a leading pro-life organisation.

SPUC has been called upon by parliamentary committees and other eminent bodies to give evidence in this area.

SPUC was responding to the report published today by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics which claims that: "Novel techniques to prevent mitochondrial DNA disorders would be an ethical treatment option" www.nuffieldbioethics.org Anthony Ozimic, SPUC's communications manager, commented: "As with IVF and cloning, these mitochondrial techniques may well lead to developmental abnormalities. Creating embryonic children in the laboratory abuses them, by subjecting them to unnatural processes. These techniques are both destructive and dangerous and therefore unethical. The vast majority of embryonic children created in the laboratory are killed because they do not meet the 'quality control' requirements dictated by scientists involved in such increasingly macabre experiments. Scientists should abandon the spurious field of destructive embryo experimentation and instead promote the ethical alternative of adult stem cell research, which is already providing cures and treatments for an increasing number of conditions."

For further comment, please contact: * Paul Tully, mobile 07939 178719, direct dial 020 7820 3127, email paultully@spuc.org.uk * John Smeaton, mobile 07785 325808, direct dial 020 7820 3128, email johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk * Anthony McCarthy, mobile 07883 107358, direct dial 020 7820 3144, email anthonymccarthy@spuc.org.uk