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Canadian
Physicians for Life applauds the Minister of Health for
proposing legislation on new medical technologies in Canada.
The restrictions planned are long overdue.
While
the new law correctly rejects intentional embryo creation
for experimentation, it approves of destructive experimentation
on embryos originally created as the children of infertile
parents. It seems ethically inconsistent that the permissibility
of experimentation up to 14 days on any one embryo relies
on it not having been created for that purpose. If there
is something wrong with a proposed action, surely it cannot
be justified by recalling that one initially meant to
do something else.
Treating
a human embryo in this way is a declaration that it is
not a good in and of itself, but that it has actually
to be destroyed to yield good, moreover that its destruction
must proceed while it is healthy and viable because its
continued existence is not so useful to others as its
destruction.
An
arbitrary 14 day age limit is proposed to restrain this
philosophy from being applied to older human beings. There
is no logical reason or historic precedent why this restraint
should be expected to hold, even if it were built on firmer
foundations. No distinct biological marker supports the
creation of a 14-day limit for permitting the destruction
of a unique human being. The 14-day rule is capricious
and unscientific.
The
Canadian scientific community has limitless fields of
exploration open to it which do not require the breach
of this particular bulwark of principle. Such ethical
firewalls are much easier to maintain than to rebuild
in a crisis, and it would seem prudent and wise to expect
this new technology to provide us with unforeseeable crises.
We
recommend that all research on human embryos as well as
any treatment that is not for their benefit be prohibited
and not simply regulated as proposed. We have clearly
set out our position in April 2001, when comment was invited
by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. The request
for public guidance with the embryo destruction issue
has satisfied the etiquette of consultation, leaving the
question of whether Canadian scientific restraint with
human embryos will continue to reflect technical limits
in preponderance to ethical ones.
Our
position paper can be viewed at www.physiciansforlife.ca
Will
Johnston, MD, President - Vancouver, BC
For
further information, contact Mrs. Janet Les, Administration
Assistant - Canadian Physicians for Life
Phone:
604-794-3772 Fax: 604-794-3960 Email: info@physiciansforlife.ca
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