Conception of human life

I commend Pope Benedict XVI for his hard stand against the referendum in Italy on June 12 and June 13 that seeks to overturn key provisions in a law passed last year that "bans donations of sperm and eggs; defines life as beginning at conception; and allows fertility treatment only to "stable heterosexual couples" who are living together and can prove infertility."

Reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilization are used to produce embryos in laboratories where they are observed and manipulated. Here, a relationship of domination of researchers over their embryonic subjects exists which not only opens the door to new threats against life but is contrary to the dignity and equality that must be common to parents and children.

On a biological level, the pre-natal being is not like any other tissue: It is human with its own DNA indicating that it has the same fundamental and moral right to life as any other human being.

Hopefully the awareness of these scientific truths will awaken governments around the globe to their moral obligation to support the natural generation of human life and protect it in all phases of its existence from conception to natural death.

PAUL KOKOSKI Ontario, Canada