Research on embryos and 'therapeutic
cloning'
FINAL UPDATE: 7 December 2006
Federal Parliament votes to allow Cloning
A sad day forAustralia...
The House of Representatives voted, on 6 December 2006, to allow
therapeutic cloning - the creation of embryos, through SNCT, that will be
allowed to live for up to 14 days before being killed when their stem cells are
extracted. The Bill is called the "Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction
and the Regulation of Human Embryo Research Amendment Bill
2006".
The
vote on the second reading of the Bill was 82 for to 62 on
against. Six MPs were absent from the vote. Michael Ferguson (Liberal
MP from Launceston,
Tasmania) moved an amendment that would have
prohibited the use of eggs from aborted baby girls.
Unfortunately this
amendment was defeated by 23 votes: 76 to 53.
The full Bill was then put to
the House of Representatives - it was carried 'on the voices' without a formal
vote.
Media Reports:
Therapeutic
cloning ban overturned
The Age, December 7, 2006.
MPs
give all-clear to clone embryos
The Australian, Matthew
Franklin - December 07, 2006
Stem
cell detail 'horrifying'
AAP, December 07, 2006
Hansard - Debate and Vote:
Click here for the Hansard from Wednesday 6 December - which
includes the vote.
Second reading VOTE at Page 127.
Third reading vote at P 139 (same as second reading).
The Senate vote:
The
Bill had previously been passed by the Senate:
The Senate voted on the
"Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction and the Regulation of Human
Embryo Research Amendment Bill 2006" on Wednesday 7 November. The Bill
was passed by 34 votes in favour to 32 votes against with 10 Senators
'paired'.
Some amendments were passed, including the banning of the use of animal eggs
and increasing the penalties for misuse of embryos and stem cells.
Senate Hansard
Record:
Tuesday 7 Nov
2006 - debate and
vote:
Second
Reading debate, 7 Nov: Pages 15 -
31; Committee stage: P 31 - 52 and P 72 - 100; Final vote: P
100-101.
This includes Yes and No votes: Of the 10 paired
Senators, supporters were Senators Ian Campbell; George Campbell; Fiona
Nash; Stephen Conroy; Ian Macdonald.. Those who opposed it were Brett
Mason, George Brandis, Michael Forshaw, Helen Coonan and
Christine Milne.
Hansard for
Monday 6 November 2006
Pages 15 - 53 and Pages 110 -
154.
______________________________
The Campaign:
Following is the material
published on this page during the campaign....
The issue of embryonic stem cells and cloning is
back in federal Parliament. In 2002, the Parliament voted to allow
research on embryos that were 'left over' embryos' from IVF processes
and to BAN cloning.
Now some people want to go further...
to allow the creation of embryos specifically for research. This destroys the
embryo and is unethical.
(See Background Paper for more
details - at bottom of this page)
Senator Kay Patterson (Lib) and Senator Natasha Stott
Despoja (Dem) are both preparing private members bills to allow the creation of
embryos for experimentation and so called 'therapeutic cloning'. The Prime Minister has said he will allow a conscience
vote on the issue.
Mr Howard has released an independent report that shows
there have been no new developments
in this area since 2002. This confirms
the view that we cannot allow embryos to be created for research. Full
details and link to report below action section.
It is vital that everyone
take ACTION on this important matter!
Please contact your MPs
and Senators and participate in the debate.
See below for full details....
Updates:
6 November 2006 - Cloning debate in Senate
The
debate and vote on Senator Patterson's cloning bill is being held in the Senate
this week. The vote will be held by Friday - if not before.
If you haven't
contacted your Senators yet, write a polite letter asking them not to support
this bill.
Senators contact details: click here.
Senate
Committee Report and details: click here.
NO
Cloning campaign: click here.
Make a stand:
click here to
sign the petition against cloning (and write to your MP).
Please PRAY
that the Bill is not
passed.
12 October 2006 - Prof James Sherley opposes
cloning
Visiting
US Professor James Sherley has spoken to MPs and Senators about the dangers of
therapeutic
cloning.
He
has written excellent articles that have been published in The
Australian and the Herald Sun...
No
Path to find cure-all
The Australian, 12 October 2006.
False
hope in embryo research
Herald Sun, 17 October
2006.
Please write to your 12 State Senators and your
MP...
The Senate debate is expected in early November (week
beg 6 Nov) and the House of Representatives debate two weeks later.
Click
here for contact
details for MPs and Senators.
Click here
for the 'No Cloning' campaign
website.
____________________
1. Senate Inquiry into
Cloning - Submissions now
closed
The
Senate has asked the Senate Community Affairs Committee to investigate the
recommendations of the Lockhart Committee regarding cloning -
the creation of embryos to be destroyed for
research.The Committee has to report to the Senate before the end of
October.
Relevant
links:
Click
here
for Senate Committee Inquiry homepage:
"Inquiry into the Legislative
responses to Recommendations of the Lockhart Review".
For all the relevant
documents click on this link:
Legislation
and documentation relating to the
inquiry.
All submissions are now posted on this
page.
THE
WEBSITE:
A
new website has been launched to assist in the campaign against the move to
allow 'cloning' in
Australia.
The
website is http://www.cloning.org.au/
It contains the IMPORTANT information you need to know when speaking or
writing to to MPs, Senators, and others on this important issue.
The message we need to give
is:
* Say NO to cloning of any kind.
* The
creation of an embryo for research is morally impermissible and ethically wrong.
In
the Parliament vote in 2002, there was a UNAMIMOUS vote not to allow any form of
cloning. Research using embryos left over from IVF processes was allowed - this
gives the scientists all they need to do "embryonic stem cell research". We
cannot extend this further.
Adult stem cell research is already providing
valuable treatments and this needs to be
pursued.
2. ACTION - Contacting MPs
etc
a) Write to your federal MP and Senators
For contact
details of all MPs click here.
To
write to your own MP: click here.
Or phone 13 2326 to obtain details of who your MP is.
To write to
your State Senators (12 in States, 2 in NT and ACT).
Click here for
details.
b) Be informed:
Visit this website: http://www.cloning.org.au/
c) Get involved in the public debate:
*
Phone talk back radio.
* Write letters to the editor of newspapers. Click here for email addresses etc.
* Spread
information to your friends and churches and get them
active!__________________________________
Recent information:
31 August
2006
PM releases stem cell research
report
Prime
Minister John Howard has released a report that analyses the Lockhart Review,
which investigated embryo stem cell research and 'therapeutic cloning'.
The
report found that the "arguments for therapeutic cloning have not advanced since
the matter was debated in the parliament four years ago".
"The report found
many of the concerns that existed when Parliament debated extending stem cell
research in 2002, still exist
today."
Report
finds no new arguments for therapeutic cloning
ABC Online,
31/8/2006.
The 33 page report released by the Prime
Minister:
ANALYSIS OF ADVICE ON DEVELOPMENTS IN
ASSISTED REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY AND RELATED MEDICAL AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
Click here
to read the report.
1 September
2006
Research - extracting a
cell from an embryo
A recent report from the USA claimed to
allow a single cell to be extracted from an embryo for 'research' and allow the
embryo to live.
This research has been discredited.
This
still has enormous ethical implications. Will the embryo be 'created' FOR this purpose?; what DOES
happen to the 'embryo'?; what mother would allow people to remove a cell form
her BABY for scientists to EXPERIMENT with?
If the original embryo was
cloned then if it was allowed to develop into a baby this is
prohibited in Australia (called 'reproductive cloning') (this process has never been done)
Click here for Bill Muehlenberg's assessment on the
problems involved.
Science
Sham and Embryo Hype
Bill Muehlenberg, 1/9/2006.
Background Information (referred to
above)
Embryo Stem cell research and
'cloning' - the background
Sent by email
- 17 August 2006.
Embryonic stem cell research is in the news!
Following
a decision by the federal Cabinet not to debate this matter in the
parliament or consider the recommendations of the Lockhart Committee, both
Queensland and Victorian Premiers have been making statements about being
prepared to 'go it alone' to allow such research - chasing the research
dollar!
The Democrats' Senator Natasha Stott Despoja has also
been pushing this issue and was planning a private member's Bill. She has
also been generating 'cross-party support' from the feminists (as she did in the
RU 486 debate).
Following a Coalition party room meeting in early
August, Prime Minister John Howard has said he would allow a debate and a
conscience vote concerning the extension of stem cell research to allow
so-called ‘therapeutic cloning’ of embryos IF the matter came to a vote
in the Parliament.
The matter will be further discussed in the party room when
Parliament meets again next month (today is the last sitting day - the next
sitting day is 4 September.)
However, Senator Kay Patterson, Liberal
Senator for Victoria, has now said she will put forward a private member's
bill on this matter.
What is the issue?
This process of 'therapeutic cloning' involves the specific
creation of an embryo in order for it to be destroyed as its stem cells are
extracted for ‘research’ and experimentation purposes.
The creation of the embryo can be done in various ways -
not just from using sperm. It could involve 'cloning' or SCNT - somatic cell
nuclear transfer. This could use a donated human egg with the nucleus removed
and replaced with genetic material of another. This could include animal
material.
All forms of creating embryos
for
experimentation are unethical as embryos are human beings.
The
message we need to give to our MPs is:
* NO cloning
* NO creation of
embryos for research
Stem cell research is already allowed using embryos ‘left over’ from IVF
processes, following a Parliament vote in 2002, but specifically
creating embryos to destroy them is morally ‘stepping
over the line’.
The question of obtaining of the eggs from women
for the process also involves significant problems.
Adult stem cells, obtained from bone marrow, cord blood etc
have already been found to provide cures and treatments, whereas there are NO
such treatments using embryo stem cells.
See a full list of these on www.stemcellresearch.org Author: Jenny Stokes | Modified: 2 April 2008 |
