Anglican anger over embryos
Mon Mar 24 2008

The Church of England has weighed in to the controversy over human embryos.

Supporters of the Government's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, which will allow scientists to create "hybrid" embryos from animal eggs and human nuclei, have been hitting back after attacks from senior Catholic clerics.

Scottish Cardinal Keith O'Brien said the bill would allow "grotesque procedures" which would "attack the sanctity and dignity of human life".

But fertility expert Lord Winston, a Labour peer, said: "His statements are lying. They are misleading and I'm afraid that when the Church, for good motives, tells untruths, it brings discredit upon itself."

The Anglican Archbishop of Cardiff Peter Smith said: "I refute any suggestion that the Catholic bishops have been lying about this bill or misleading people as to its contents and import.

"What is needed is a calm, reasoned debate based on the facts." the rest