THE passing of legislation to allow embryonic stem cell research in Queensland was yet another sign that as a society we have lost our moral compass.
That’s the opinion of Queensland Bioethics Centre director Ray Campbell who said the passing of the Research Involving Human Embryos and Prohibition of Human Cloning Amendment Act 2007 in Parliament on October 10 was “disappointing for many reasons”.
Queensland MPs, who were given a conscience vote on the issue, voted 48 to 34 allowing the controversial research to go ahead under strict conditions.
“The actual debate generally failed to come to grips with the central issue,” Mr Campbell said.
“Most of those who spoke in favour of the legislation spoke of all the possible benefits which might come from the research. All of which is very hypothetical.
“But they spoke as if, given the supposed benefit, the means was automatically justified.
“They quite simply argued that the end justifies the means, whereas the debate should have been focused on the morality of the means.”
Mr Campbell said what was most tragic about the legislation was that as a culture we had now codified in law that human life could be considered as a commodity to be used and disposed of by those who are more powerful.
Queensland Right to Life vice-president Alan Baker said state MPs had been conned into believing the “science fiction” of embryonic stem cell research, when adult stem cell research was more ethical.
Mr Baker said evidence from leading scientists available to state MPs clearly showed that adult stem cells already could do everything that the pro-cloning lobby hoped they eventually would be able to do with embryonic stem cells from cloned human embryos.
