Govt puts children first in fertility bill

By FRANCESCA MOLD

Children conceived from donated eggs and sperm will be entitled to track down their genetic parents under a new law change.

The Government yesterday announced amendments to the Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill, introduced by Labour MP Dianne Yates in 1996.

The changes include a ban on commercial surrogacy and human cloning for reproductive purposes.

A register will record the genetic parents of children conceived from donor eggs and sperm.

Fertility clinics will have to inform the Births, Deaths and Marriages office when a child is born.

Parents will still have the right to decide whether to tell their child about its conception, but children who know will be entitled to find their genetic parent from age 18.

The donor will be able to know if a child was conceived, but can only make contact if the offspring agrees.

The legislation will put New Zealand ahead of many countries in terms of openness.

In the United Kingdom, people can find out whether they were born from a donated egg and sperm so that they do not accidentally marry a genetic relative. The British Government is considering whether more information should be available.

In Western Australia, donors and their offspring can access non-identifying information. The Canadian Government is considering new laws allowing offspring to access health information, but the identity of the donor would not be disclosed without written consent.

Associate Justice Minister Lianne Dalziel said the register reflected the Government's belief that the wellbeing of the child was paramount.

Fertility Associates medical director Richard Fisher said the register would simply formalise what the sector had done for 10 years.

New Zealand clinics only accept donors willing to be identified.

But Mr Fisher said many children born from natural conception also did not know who their father was.

"I think you have to be careful that you don't legislate for the infertile that which you don't for the fertile."

Under the new legislation, a new ministerial advisory committee will create guidelines for new technology.

Its first task will be to advise Health Minister Annette King on guidelines for controversial procedures, such as using hybrid embryos of animal and human cells, for research.

The committee will also look at embryo donation, cloning for non-reproductive purposes, selecting, splitting and modifying embryos.

The minister will have the guidelines approved through an order-in-council.

They will be used by the national ethics committee when considering applications.

Dr Fisher said he was concerned that such wide powers would be given to the minister.

"A minister with a strong personal view could potentially stop something happening that most people thought entirely appropriate."

He was also concerned that guidelines for the selection of embryos, used by clinics to choose embryos less likely to miscarry, could be up to two years away.

It was a well-established procedure in other countries, but New Zealanders had to travel to Australia.

National MP Paul Hutchison said it was vital the new legislation did not set rigid rules, because individual circumstances differed and technology was changing rapidly.

He questioned the proposed make-up of the advisory committee, saying it would be loaded with laypeople who would not be qualified to make the technical decisions.

The legislation is expected to be passed early next year.

Cloning rules:

Banned:

* Human cloning for reproduction

* Commercial surrogacy


Approved:

* Artificial insemination, in vitro fertilisation (IVF), freezing embryos, putting fertilised eggs directly into the fallopian tubes, extracting and storing sperm, egg donation, assisted hatching


Ethical approval needed:

* Using hybrid embryos for non-reproductive research, embryo donation, embryo cloning for non-reproductive purposes, selecting embryos, eg, to determine the sex of the baby, splitting embryos, genetically modifying embryos so that inherited diseases are not passed on, using eggs or ovaries from dead foetuses, medically assisted surrogacy, posthumous use of sperm