An overhaul of guidelines affecting research into stem cell and embryo experimentation is to be submitted to the Irish Medical Council's ethics committee on Monday. Alison Healy and Dick Ahlstrom report.
Work on the proposed new 45-page guide, which has been drafted by a Medical Council sub-committee, has been under way for the last 18 months.
Senator Geraldine Feeney, chairwoman of the Medical Council's ethics committee, said yesterday that she could not say if the council's guidelines would continue a ban on embryo experimentation or would provide some room for new research.
The Medical Council will meet the Irish Council for Bioethics before the guidelines are finally agreed. The Irish Council for Bioethics has a remit to devise an acceptable ethical framework for a range of research areas so the Medical Council is keen to ensure that the division of responsibilities is clear between both organisations.
The new guide will replace the Medical Council's last guide to ethical conduct and behaviour which was issued in 1998.
Those guidelines did not specifically mention stem cell research or gene therapies, but did state that "the creation of new life for experimental purposes or the deliberate intentional destruction of human life already formed is professional misconduct".
Another paragraph limited the manipulation of sperm or eggs to the "improvement of health".
"However, if the intention is not so directed, or is the creation of embryos for experimental purposes, it would be professional misconduct."
The Medical Council's new guide must be published before the current council ends its five-year term of office in April.
Once approved by the ethics committee, the new guidelines will be presented to the Medical Council, probably at next month's meeting.
Meanwhile, a delayed report which will make recommendations to the Government on human cloning, embryo usage and stem cell research should be finalised within three months, The Irish Times has learned.
The report, from the Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction, was due to be issued in June, but it is understood that the 20-member commission had difficulty in getting consensus on the many complex issues involved.
The report will advise the Government on the possible approaches to the regulation of all aspects of assisted human reproduction.
Commission members include obstetricians, geneticists, legal experts, scientists, midwives, medical professionals and lay people.
It is understood that delays were caused when legal issues arose during deliberations. The commission also found it necessary to devote more time to stem cell research.
The report will advise the Government on whether regulation is best achieved by legislation, medical ethics or a mixture of both.
It will make recommendations on the replacement, freezing, usage and disposal of embryos, as well as the freezing and disposal of sperm.
It will also look at the regulation of donor programmes, surrogacy, embryo screening for genetic conditions and cloning.
The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, has made it clear that he will make policy proposals once he has examined the report.
He had hoped to have new legislation in place by next year, but due to the delays in issuing the report that deadline may not now be met.
While Mr Martin has acknowledged the benefits of in-vitro fertilisation for couples having difficulty in conceiving, he has stressed the Government's "total opposition" to human cloning.