OTTAWA, February 26, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Member of Parliament Jason Kenney (CA-Calgary Southeast) will move an amendment in the House of Commons tomorrow that would ban destructive research on human embryos. Amendment 17 to Bill C-13, the Assisted Human Reproduction Act, states that “[No person shall knowingly] experiment on or harvest an embryo.” The amendment would have the effect of prohibiting embryonic stem cell research, in which human embryos are destroyed for research purposes. “Bill C-13 as it now stands allows the human embryo – which is nascent human life – to be destroyed. Government funding for research on human embryos would be allowed for the first time. Even though there are good points in Bill C-13, its provisions allowing the destruction of human life in the name of research is a terrible flaw,” said Kenney. “I urge all Members of Parliament from all parties to join me in supporting this amendment in order to respect the dignity of human life at all stages of development.” Kenney also suggested that allowing embryonic stem cell research would create a demand for human cloning in the future. “Allowing embryonic stem cell research represents a dangerous step down a very slippery slope towards human cloning and other horrific genetic manipulation,” said Kenney. “This bill attempts to ban cloning, but there are simply not enough so-called ‘spare’ embryos left over from in vitro fertilization to allow for significant research without creating cloned embryos. I have no doubt that if this bill passes in its current form that the biotech industry will be back demanding permission for cloning within a few short years.”
Amendment 13, by Liberal MP Paul Szabo, would ensure that the bill would prohibit all cloning methods rather than the limited few methods currently specified in the legislation.