JAKARTA, Oct. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- Indonesia has come to a uniform decision on the country's standing on the controversial issue of stem-cell cloning, taking the middle ground in responding to the controversy.

    "We're not 100 percent against it, but we're not 100 percent for it either, as we are yet to see the purpose of stem-cell cloning," the health ministry's head of research and development, Dini Latief, was quoted Tuesday by The Jakarta Post as saying Tuesday.

    She said that if the purpose of stem-cell cloning was to create another human being of identical DNA, then Indonesia would strongly reject it.

    "But, if the purpose of stem-cell cloning is for therapeutic use, then the country is for it, if the cells cloned are not those of a living creature, such as an embryo," she said.

    Stem cells are undifferentiated, primitive cells in the bone marrow that have the ability both to multiply and to differentiate into any type of cell in the body, including nerve cells, heart cells and kidney cells.

    Stem-cell cloning is a procedure whereby the cells -- extractedfrom an egg after it has divided for five days -- are taken and their genetic information at the nucleus reinvigorated, so that new tissue can be grown with a genetic code that matches the patient who needs it.

    The growing cells might be used to replace brain cells that have been damaged by Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, or replace the injured spinal cord of a paraplegic.

    However, the extraction process destroys the embryo, which sparks a variety of ethical concerns.

    Dini said that Indonesia's position on embryonic stem cells wasclear: "We're against it, as it destroys a human life."

    Chairman of the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) Farid A Moeloek, confirmed Dini's argument, stating that both the IDI and the Medical Code of Ethics Committee banned embryonic stem-cell cloning.

    "We reject embryonic stem-cell cloning because an embryo is considered to be alive, and we believe that we should not kill something that is living," Farid said. Enditem¡¡