Aggregated News
6 August, 2004
GE babies banned but problems remain with HART bill
The Green Party is delighted that its recommendations to prohibit the genetic engineering of human beings has been adopted in the Human Assisted Reproductive Technology (HART) bill, Green MP Sue Kedgley said today.
"This prohibition, together with a ban on human cloning and sex selection, removes some of the worst excesses of human assisted reproductive research and technology from the legislation," said Ms Kedgley, the Deputy Chair of the Health Select Committee that considered the bill.
Ms Kedgley said the Green Party was also delighted that proper public consultation procedures had been included in the bill, requiring a Ministerial Advisory Committee to call for public submissions when it is considering significant or potentially controversial new applications for assisted human technology.
However, Ms Kedgley said she is concerned that the Committee turned down her proposal that the bill give clear direction that embryo selection techniques, such as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, could only be used...