---

Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill

The hon. Member for Brighton, Kemptown (Dr. Turner) is keen to seek evidence. As a member of the Joint Committee on the Bill, which worked for hours to scrutinise it in its draft form, my concern was to base the Bill on evidence. The other place gave the Bill careful consideration, but we will not have the same amount of time to do so. We are bringing the House into disrepute by not providing the necessary time in the Chamber to look in detail at various issues that cause such concern. We do not wish to stand in the way of treatment for debilitating and potentially fatal illnesses, and we certainly do not wish unnecessarily to impede sound research. We wish to see Britain leading the way, but on a sound ethical basis. The Bill is by no means what it says on the tin in being a blueprint for the future in leading scientific research and producing results. It hides within its laudable exterior proposals that strike at the heart of the value of human life and commodifies a child's life as an instrument for the benefit of another. We have heard examples of parents who have genuine concerns about their children suffering from severe genetic disorders. Our hearts go out to those people, and we want to find ways of securing treatment for their children, but there are alternatives. To help me to understand the impact of saviour siblings, I think about the situation in my own household. Yesterday evening, I was holding my one-year-old, Toby, and thinking to myself, ““What problems would be created if Toby were to be a saviour sibling for his older brother, Noah, if, for the sake of argument, he had a serious genetic defect?”” If we had brought Toby into the world on the basis that he was compatible with Noah, that would, for starters, have led to the destruction of embryos who had not been a match. If we got over that ethical hurdle, the next step would perhaps be to move towards a stem cell transplant via Toby's bone marrow—not a straightforward and trivial procedure for a baby. If, as could well happen—as the other place was warned by Lord Winston, who confirmed it in print over the weekend—that transplant did not work, the pressure would be on to find another way of helping Noah, the sibling who needs assistance. Let us wind forwards a few months, or perhaps a few years, and Noah suddenly has an organ failure. Under the Bill, we are looking at assistance by way of umbilical cord blood, bone marrow or ““other tissue””. What regenerative tissue could that mean? What next—a liver transplant from Toby? Then there is renal failure—and it goes on. However much we love Noah, Toby would be living not so much as a saviour sibling but, more accurately, as a spare parts sibling. That is unacceptable.