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THE SHAM OF REVISED MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIES BILL

The Minister of Health, Anne McLellan, tabled the revised Assisted Human Reproduction Act in May and stated she hopes to have the Bill passed by the time Parliament recesses in June. We hope not. Rather, because of the many loopholes and other problems with the Bill and the enormous harm it could cause, REAL Women supports the Alliance party's call for a three-year moratorium, at least, on embryo stem cell research.

In the revised Bill, Ms. McLellan has ignored the recommendations of the House of Commons Health Committee which had reviewed the first draft of the Bill and recommended, that the embryo stem research provision be strengthened (although not completely banned).

There are many other problems with this Bill, such as its vague definitions and omissions, in that many of the new medical technologies are not included. For example, the Bill is supposed to ban cloning of human beings - but it does not prohibit all techniques of human cloning. There is no definition given for the words "human being," which is used throughout the Bill.

Also, the Bill does not prohibit researchers from patenting life forms, which could lead to the commercialization of human life. The definition of valid "consent" is highly unsatisfactory. These problems cover only a very few of the inadequacies of the Act.

Minister of Health Given Super Powers

Although the Bill provides for the establishment of a government appointed agency, the Assisted Human Reproduction Agency of Canada, which will give advice to the Minister of Health, issue licences to researchers and monitor the procedures, etc., the real power of the Bill, according to this Act, lies with the Minister herself.

According to this Bill, Ms. McLellan, as Minister of Health, has the ultimate discretion and jurisdiction to permit medical research on embryos.

This was all very cleverly done.

The Bill lists in Section 5 the technologies that are to be prohibited in Canada, including cloning (at least one type of cloning). The Bill prohibits the creation of an in vitro embryo for any purposes other than: (1) creating a human being, or (2) improving or providing instruction in assisted reproduction procedures. The words "improving or providing instruction in assisted reproduction procedures" are vagueness itself and are wide open to interpretation to include any and every research possible on the embryo. In short, this provision does NOT provide protection for embryos and will permit using them for unrestricted research purposes.

Further, Section 10 lists the procedures that are to be "controlled" by way of a licence. Section 10(1) states that no one may create an embryo by manipulation or treating human reproductive material (e.g. sperm, ovum), unless he has a licence. That is, a researcher may "alter, manipulate and treat" human reproductive material to create an embryo providing he has a licence to do so.

Section 65 lists the regulations that may be made under the Act, but Section 65(z) is the real shocker, as it is this provision which gives the Minister true power. Section 65 provides that "controlled activities," (such as manipulating and making use of an embryo whether in vitro or not), may be exempted from the Act, by way of the regulations. That is, Section 65 allows any controlled activity - such as creating embryos, exporting or importing them, destroying them, transferring them or combining human species with human life for "improving and providing research" - without restriction on such procedures, solely at the discretion of the Minister.

There is more. Section 66 requires that the Minister of Health shall lay the regulation before Parliament. The latter may then make recommendations as to the proposed regulation, but significantly, there is no requirement that Parliament actually approve such a regulation before it is put into effect. That is, even if Parliament should reject outright a proposed regulation by the Minister, there is no requirement that the Minister proceed in accordance with the wishes of Parliament. Instead, under Section 66 of the Act, the Minister may proceed with the regulation, regardless of Parliament's views.

In short, the Minister of Health, Anne McLellan, under this Bill has enormous power to circumscribe the Act and authorize any experimentation on embryos.

Why bother passing of this legislation if the Minister can do an end-run around its licensed provisions? The legislation is meaningless because it is a sham and a fraud, which provides minimal protection against medical research on the embryo. The Minister of Health, quite literally, has power over life and death under this legislation. No Minister should have such power.

Please write to:

Please strenuously object to the provisions of the Assisted Reproduction Act which place such unreasonable power in the hands of the Minister of Health, Anne McLellan and provide no protection for the embryo.

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