Sydney
14 July 2002

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School defies terrorism

Pope ‘force for freedom and good’

Vinnies reaches out: a new generation

Abuse allegations ‘devastating’

Caritas renews call for help as southern Africa faces food crisis

Jason scores with ‘no sex before marriage’

‘Return to the scapular’ call for feast day

Medjugorje visionary calls off visit

‘Boundless plains’ to share with refugees? - Spirituality in Pub

Health care ‘not a commodity’

Fr Pat goes back to St Pat’s for jubilee Mass

Queensland search for men to teach

St Vincent’s clocks up 1000

IVF baby farming banned - Govt ‘no’ to sale of eggs

Witchcraft move under fire

Editorial: Tangled web

Letters: Catholicism and the Royal Family

Conversation: Never say never - always hope - Larri Hayhurst, nurse educator

Reflections: Justice: what it means to me

Earthcare - a call to ‘expand our vision’

Opinion: Where young and old share the joy!

Comfort zone

Embryos used to find ‘morning after’ pill

Stem-cell research: Warning of embryo use in human tests

Stem-cell research: Legislation provides for ‘destruction of embryos’

Stem-cell research: ‘Key principle’ at stake

Stem-cell research: Risks to egg and sperm

Resurrection and ‘last things’ in Catechism series

Sing? Yes! Sing-along syndrome? No!

Inspirations: Joseph, 8, gives up toys for Cebu kids


 

Stem-cell research: Warning of embryo use in human tests

Drug companies are looking at increased availability of human embryos to aid them in drug research, says Dr John Fleming.

“If you are developing a drug to use on pregnant women then you need to ensure that it will not harm the embryo,” he said.

“And you can’t rely on animal experiments. Thalid-omide was safe on animals, but it wasn’t on human beings.

“The drug companies want to do human specific tests, and they would do that by playing around with embryos. They would want embryos to develop the techniques, and then more to do the research.”

The kinds of experimentation on embryos allowed under the new legislation are clearly available, but no one seems to know about them, Dr Fleming said.

“The details appear in the support documentation for the legislation,” he said.

“The National Health and Medical Research Council was responsible for producing the legislation.

“The explanatory guide identifies all the areas of research I have mentioned.”

“All Prime Minister John Howard talked about in his speech to Parliament was stem-cell research, as if this was all the legislation would allow.

“But this is just the tiniest part of it.

“Some politicians have been very naïve about this.

“The main effects of the legislation would be improved IVF techniques for the financial benefit of the clinics involved.”