Theos-Talk Archives (October 2008 Message tt00774)

Good for them!
 
Science must not be hampered by superstition.
 
Chuck the Heretic
 
 
In a message dated 10/22/2008 9:49:17 P.M. Central Daylight Time,  
nhcareyta@yahoo.com.au writes:

 
 
 
Britain's lower house of parliament has approved legislation allowing  
scientists to create animal-human embryos for medical research, in 
the  biggest shake-up of embryology laws in two decades.

Despite opposition  from religious and pro-life groups, MPs in the 
House of Commons today  backed the Human Embryology and Fertilisation 
Bill by 355 votes to 129.  

It will now go to a vote in the House of Lords, and could be law by  
November.

The wide-ranging bill, which has been debated for months,  would also 
allow "saviour siblings" - children created as a close genetic  match 
for a sick brother or sister so their genetic material can help  treat 
them.

In addition, it gives lesbians and single women easier  access to in-
vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment by removing requirements  for 
clinics to consider a child's need for a father.

Health  Minister Dawn Primarolo told MPs the bill was about helping 
the one in  seven couples who needed fertility assistance, and about 
research to deal  with diseases such as Alzheimer's, which affects 
350,000  Britons.

Hybrid embryos, created by inserting the nuclei of a human  cell into 
an animal egg, can ensure a more plentiful supply of stem cells  for 
use in research into treating conditions like Alzheimer's and  
Parkinson's.

"It is about research to deal with the dreadful  diseases and the 
debilitating attacks on their health from which many in  our society 
suffer," the minister told MPs.

"The bill is about  combining science with an ethical framework that 
works on behalf of  humankind."

Prime Minister Gordon Brown is a strong defender of the  measures, 
saying Britain owes it to future generations. His son Fraser has  
cystic fibrosis, a disease that could one day benefit from embryo  
research.

However, 16 MPs from his ruling Labour party, including  former 
minister Ruth Kelly, a staunch Catholic who quit the government  this 
month, voted against the bill and religious groups warned it was the  
next step on a "slippery slope".

Nadine Dorries, a member of the  opposition Conservative Party, told 
her fellow MPs that loopholes in the  legislation raised the 
possibility of scientists attempting cross-breeding  between humans 
and animals.

"Of all the experimental possibilities  debated in the course of this 
bill, surely none is quite so utterly  repulsive as the possibility of 
seeking to inseminate animals with human  sperm," she said.

The debate was overshadowed by complaints from all  sides that the 
government had blocked a discussion on reforming the  abortion laws. 

Ministers suggested they did not think the current bill  was the right 
time to do this.

-AFP


 

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