Spain plans to introduce legislation allowing therapeutic cloning, its Health Minister said on Monday, a decision likely to bring a new clash between the governing Socialists and the Roman Catholic churchm, Reuters reproted. In an interview in newspaper El Mundo, Elena Salgado said the legislation could be effective by next year. "The Church has always been opposed to the advances of science, but fortunately science has continued progressing. And thanks to that we live in better conditions," she said. Therapeutic cloning involves creating embryos as a source of stem cells to cure diseases. The process is controversial because the embryos are later discarded. Governments of countries including Britain, Belgium, Singapore and China say the technique offers hope for a cure to conditions such as diabetes, Alzheimer's and spinal cord injuries. But the Vatican, the Bush administration in the United States and anti-abortion groups argue that it constitutes the taking of human lives. Salgado said strict limits would be placed on how the cloning technology is used in Spain. "When we talk about therapeutic cloning, what is clear is that reproductive cloning is absolutely forbidden and that is a limit which will never be surpassed," she said. Spain's governing Socialists have caused a furore amongst some of the country's Catholics with a series of moves, in particular in recent months by approving gay marriage, which the church argues threatens the definition of family. Although most Spaniards are Catholic in name, practice of the faith is lax and liberal attitudes prevail in society. --SP 1506 Local Time 1206 GMT
