London - Plans to clone embryos in a bid to create new cures for genetic diseases were today condemned "immoral" by one of Britain's leading Catholics. MPs are to be given a free vote on the controversial issue when it goes before the Commons, perhaps as early as today.
Cardinal Thomas Winning, head of the Catholic Church in Scotland, warned that approving the research would "pave the way" for designer babies. The move, backed by leading British scientists from the Royal Society, was fundamentally wrong and would make Britain a "pariah" state, he said.