Fruitful research without human embryo exploitation In 1988 Dr Jérôme Lejeune was invited to address the UK Parliamentary Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee to the All-Party Parliamentary Pro-Life Group in response to the Government’s consultation paper on legislation on IVF and embryo research. Proposals regarding human embryo experimentation up to the fourteenth day of life were recommended by the Warnock Report (1984), and in his address, Dr Lejeune endeavored to demonstrate that effective research into genetic diseases would not depend on techniques requiring the use of human embryos. In the introduction to Dr Lejeune’s paper, the Rt Hon Sir Bernard Braine, Chairman of the group said: “The scope and application of medical and scientific research has grown dramatically during the past forty years. Much of this development has been beneficial for the individual and for society as a whole but there are certain areas in which it has resulted in unacceptable and uncivilised practices. The implementation of the 1967 Abortion Act frequently involves the absolute rejection of any concern and respect for pre-natal human life. “Our existing law has been used to justify experiments on aborted mid-gestational infants sustained by their own heart action for up to 2 hours after removal from the womb. A Report, The Use of Fetuses and Fetal Material for Research, published by the Department of Health and Social Security in 1972 stated plainly that, ‘In considering whether it is ethically justifiable to undertake such research we noted that society through Parliament, in permitting abortion in certain circumstances has accepted that where an abortion under the Act is carried out the pre-viable fetus is prevented from attaining life’. “The Report also went on to claim that, ‘The whole pre-viable fetus has offered an important opportunity that cannot be obtained in any other way for making observations of great value …’ “Small wonder then, that once scientists had conquered the technique of generating human embryos outside the womb (in vitro fertilisation) we have been bombarded with propaganda urging the use of the embryonic human being for experimentation. This propaganda is often couched in scientific terms, promising great rewards if such experimentation were permitted. Although the All-Party Pro-Life Group in Parliament rejects human embryo vivisection we felt that expert advice was needed concerning such claims. We, therefore, established our own Scientific and Medical Advisory Committee which included some of the most eminent men and women in the world in their respective disciplines. Their mandate is to advise us on the validity of claims made; on the gaining of information regarding the causes of genetic and chromosomal diseases and their possible cure without the use of human embryos, and on alternative methods of overcoming infertility.
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