Sue Kedgley: More public input into crucial reproduction bill is essential

A bill now before Parliament would establish New Zealand as one of the most permissive countries in the world for assisted human reproductive technologies, if passed into law.

The proposed new law is commendable in some respects, such as outlawing human cloning and giving priority to the health and well-being of children born using assisted technologies. However, it is far too lax in other respects and doesn't give the public enough say over how some of these controversial techniques should be used.

The Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill opens a Pandora's box of ethical issues about how far we can go in tampering with the human race.

The technology to help humans to have babies has changed dramatically over the past decade, and our laws are completely out of date. This bill is a belated attempt to catch up but unfortunately, as it stands, it leaves the technology wide open to abuse.

The bill allows for the approval of controversial technologies such as human/animal hybrids for embryo research, genetic engineering of humans, embryo splitting, embryo selection and the creation of designer babies. Considering this technology has the potential to alter the evolution of humans, it's astonishing to discover that, under this bill, the Minister of Health could approve applications for these highly controversial technologies on her own, without public input.

I have particular concerns about the way genetic engineering of humans is treated in this draft law. The bill opens the door for New Zealand to be the first country in the world to go ahead with the inheritable genetic engineering of human beings, known as germ-line genetic engineering.

Germ-line genetic engineering involves modifying the genetic make-up of the egg, sperm or embryo - changes which would then be passed on to all subsequent generations. This could create huge medical problems in the future if unexpected mutations or genetic disorders were to arise as a result of the original genetic manipulation.

In fact, germ-line genetic engineering is far too imprecise and unpredictable to use on humans, even if society was to decide that it was ethically acceptable. Genetic engineering and cloning in animals results in many deformities and miscarriages, and the present techniques are far too risky to use on human babies.

I believe a line must be drawn to protect future generations from growing up as laboratory experiments. New Zealand must join countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom in explicitly prohibiting germ-line genetic engineering of humans.

Embryo selection also opens nightmarish scenarios of parents being able to choose which embryo they give birth to based on criteria such as sex or genes which determine intelligence or beauty. It has grave implications for our society, and is especially threatening to the disabled and the sick.

It's absolutely crucial that difficult ethical decisions about whether and under what circumstances society would allow embryo selection and other controversial reproductive technologies are widely debated by our whole community.

Unfortunately, there is no requirement for public input into the process of developing policy on these controversial issues. Instead, a small Ministerial Advisory Committee, whose deliberations are not even open to the public, is empowered to make these decisions on its own.

There is no requirement for parliamentary debate of the policies that will determine how these controversial decisions may be used. Nor would the Bioethics Council be involved.

The bill does not require organisations undertaking research in this area to be licensed, or their work to be routinely monitored and inspected. Its monitoring and accountability provisions are weak. This must be remedied before the bill is passed into law.

What we need in New Zealand is a strong, independent authority to license and monitor the use of this technology, along the lines of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority in the United Kingdom. This authority should also monitor and inspect all research projects involving human embryos, and require public hearings before any controversial and new technology is approved.

The bill will also enable human embryonic stem cell research. Many people consider it ethically unacceptable and medically unnecessary to use cloned and developing human embryos for medical research if there are other alternatives such as adult stem cells.

Finally, it is important that stem cells and cell lines are not able to be patented for companies to make big money out of. Private companies should not be allowed to develop a monopoly or use patents to strangle medical research.

Public submissions on the bill will be heard this month. The bill needs dramatic improvement if it is to meet the standards that the rest of the world is setting in controlling this type of technology.

* Sue Kedgley MP is the Green Party health spokeswoman.