|
 "I encourage you to carry out (your work) in ways that do not
contribute to nourishing the 'throwaway culture' that sometimes
creeps into the world of scientific research," he said at an event
aimed at raising awareness of Huntington's disease, a degenerative
brain condition.
"We know that no end, even a noble one like the expectation of a
benefit for science, for other human beings or for society, can
justify the destruction of human embryos," Francis added.
Thousands of people who suffer from Huntington's disease, an
inherited condition which can eventually make a person unable to
walk, talk or swallow, attended the event at the Vatican with their
families.
Many traveled from Latin America, where some countries are
disproportionately affected by the disease, to listen to the
Argentine pontiff.
The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) says 2.7 people in
every 100,000 globally present the disease - not including gene
carriers - but prevalence is up to 1,000 times higher in pockets of
Latin America.
[to top of second column] |
(Reporting by Isla Binnie, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
