5. Debate: Embryo Research: The Ethics of Embryo Research

We are grateful for the assistance of several members of the Centre for Human Bioethics at Monash University who are involved in a research project on early human life, with the support of the National Health and Medical Research Council. Our thanks are particularly due to Brumby Margaret Dawson Karen Kasimba Pascal Swan John , and Waller Louis .

For details on the need for such research and its prospects, see submissions and transcripts of evidence given to the Australian Senate Select Committee on the Human Embryo Experimentation Bill, 1985, by de Kretser D. Prof. Trounson A. Dr. Kola I. Dr. Wilton L. Dr. Rogers P. Dr. Laws-King A. Dr. , and Wood C. Prof. , as reprinted in Hansard, Feb. 25, 1986, pp. 3–128, esp. pp. 6–8, 12–15, 18–27. See also Stumbling Blocks Pave Path to Clinical Trials for Gene Therapy, JAMA, April 11, 1986, at 1825–32.

See the submissions and testimony, supra note 2. On cancer research, see 1. Kola, Fetal Antigens and Cancer, in Basic Medical Sciences, 3d ed. (University of Cape Town Publishers, in press). The use of blood stem cells from human embryos to overcome sickle-cell anemia and leukemia was also suggested by Edwards R. Prof. , in a Paper presented to the Fourth World Congress on IVF, Melbourne, Australia, 1985.

See the submissions and testimony, supra note 2.

For an expert opinion on when the fetus may begin to be capable of feeling pain, see the report of the British government's Advisory Group on Fetal Research, chaired by Peel John Sir , The Use of Fetuses and Fetal Material for Research (London: HMSO, 1972). A clear summary of some relevant scientific evidence, with further references, can be found in Tooley M. , Abortion and Infanticide (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983), at 347–407.

Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Human Fertilisation and Embryology, chaired by Warnock Dame Mary (London: HMSO, 1984), pars. 11.19–11.22; Committee to Consider the Social, Ethical and Legal Issues Arising from In Vitro Fertilization (Victoria), Report on the Disposition of Embryos Produced by In Vitro Fertilization, chaired by Waller Louis Prof. (Melbourne: Government Printer, 1984), par. 3.29.

Stumbling Blocks, supra note 2, esp. p. 1832.

Report on the Disposition of Embryos, supra note 6, par. 3.27.

See Prof. Waller's testimony before the Australian Senate Select Committee supra note 2, at 1458–59.