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BRASILIA, Brazil — Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that scientists can conduct embryonic stem-cell research, which holds the promise of curing Parkinson’s disease and diabetes but raises ethical concerns.

Six of the court’s 11 justices upheld a 2005 law allowing embryonic stem-cell research and turned down a petition filed that same year by then- Attorney General Claudio Fontelles, who argued the law was unconstitutional because it violates the right to life.

The National Conference of Brazilian Bishops issued a statement saying it “regretted” the ruling, comparing it to a death sentence. The bishops’ conference said its position “is not a matter of religion, but of the defense of human life, beginning with conception.”