Volume 2   Number 5

Email: waa@womensactionalliance.com.au

Website: www.womensactionalliance.com.au

November 2006

 

 

 

 

  CLONING HUMAN

  EMBRYOS

The Bill to allow cloning of human embryos for the purposes of research (‘therapeutic cloning’) passed through the Senate on 9 November. This has been an enormously controversial Bill dealing as it does with life at its most fundamental. The proposals being considered by Parliament arose from the recommendations of the review into legislation governing human cloning and research involving human embryos, chaired by former Judge John Lockhart. The Lockhart review outlined a raft of recommendations to allow and regulate ‘therapeutic cloning’. The members of the review were, in general, supporters of embryonic stem cell research and the recommendations reflect this stance. One of its more controversial recommendations, that researchers be allowed to use animal eggs instead of human eggs in their research, was removed from the Bill which passed the Senate. The spectre of human-animal hybrids was considered too controversial.

Members of the WAA executive discussed this issue of ‘therapeutic cloning’ at our recent conference in Canberra and decided it would be useful to inform members about this issue.

‘Therapeutic cloning’ involves removing the DNA-bearing nucleus from a human egg and replacing it with genetic material from another person’s cells. Under suitable laboratory conditions the genetically altered cell will develop into an early embryo, or blastocyst, containing around 200 cells. The blastocyst contains embryonic stem cells, which

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can grow into virtually any tissue in the body. The embryonic stem cells are collected and used to create colonies, or lines, of specialised cells; for example, heart or muscle cells. The remaining embryo is discarded. Proponents of ‘therapeutic cloning’ argue that the cell lines can be used to study the molecular basis of disorders such as heart disease or muscular dystrophy if they are grown from the cells from patients with these diseases. Supporters believe that if healthy tissues can be grown they could be introduced into patients and could lead to improved treatments for diseases such as Parkinson’s and for conditions such as spinal cord or brain injury.

The reality of embryo stem-cell research is that it is yet to produce any concrete health benefits. The argument of its proponents is that some time in the future, the promises of embryonic stem cell research will come to fruition. Researchers involved in adult stem-cell research, which does not involve harvesting eggs and creating embryos, can point to significant benefits to sufferers, which have already come about through their research. They argue that supporters of embryonic stem-cell research overstate the benefits of this kind of research.

The most significant point of contention in this debate is that in order to make embryonic stem cells the embryo must be destroyed. Whilst the embryo is created by cloning rather than the union of a male sperm and female egg, it is still regarded as a human life by many people, including the mainstream churches. As demonstrated by Dolly the sheep, these cloned embryos, under the right conditions, have the potential to grow into mature life. It must be noted,

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After reading the letter in the last newsletter from a concerned grandmother, it seemed appropriate to write a little about grandparents, in particular grandmothers.

"Grand families" are a growing phenomenon across our State with about 3100 children now being supported by 2250 grannies and grandpas. Women's Interest Minister Margaret Quirk said the growing number of "grand families" was an issue which could no longer be ignored.

"Grandparents are finding it difficult or cannot access vital supports either because agencies make it hard for them or because they do not have legal custody of the children. This covers a wide range of help such as income support, Medicare entitlements, legal-aid for care arrangements, affordable and appropriate housing and health services.",  Mrs. Quirk said.

WA Liberal MP Don Randall said that Federal Employment Minister Kevin Andrew’s Welfare to Work rules force some grandparents, who are full-time carers of their grandchildren, to get a job. The Canning MHR said grandparents were routinely discriminated against under the Welfare to Work policy because, unlike foster parents, they were not given automatic exemption to Centrelink's mutual obligation requirement.

 

Minister Kevin Andrews said he had directed his department to “expedite a guideline change” whereby grandparents can gain exemption from work participation requirements if they gain custody of their grandchildren through the Family Court. Mr. Howard is expected to pressure premiers and chief ministers to match the Commonwealth’s recognition of grandparents at the Council of Australian Governments level.

 

Barbara Paterniti

WA President