As a response to the decision by University College Cork (UCC) to carry out embryo research in Ireland, independent Senator Ronan Mullen published a private members Bill, the stated intention of which was to protect the human embryo. The Bill which was debated in the Irish Senate in November was not well supported and was not put to a vote.
The bill in addition to protecting the human embryo, sought to prohibit research involving the destruction of human embryos including the use of any stem cells derived from the destruction of human embryos. The Bill also sought to prohibit the creation of cloned human embryos or human-animal hybrids, their subsequent destruction in research, or the use of any cells derived from them.
An analysis of the bill prepared by the Southern Cross Bioethics Institute (SCBI) says that despite the stated intentions of the Bill, it does not achieve its goal.
The main problem according to the report is that the Bill, in excluding in vitro fertilization (IVF) and embryo transfer (ET) or diagnostic procedures from the definition of “embryo-destructive research”, provides explicit approval for Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) thus placing human embryos at extreme risk, with by far the majority being either discarded, subjected to procedures and processes involving their destruction, or allowed to succumb when unwanted.
The report says that by enacting legislation permitting IVF and ET, this Bill would provide formal approval for ART in general, which cannot be separated from processes and procedures in which human embryos are far from being protected.
