Ragulation of assisted human reproduction is necessary but cannot be based on a religious foundation, according to a leading moral philosopher. Nor is it possible to develop a universal approach to the issue that could be applied in all countries.
People had to find a way to reach a morality of humanity that was not based on religion, said Baroness Warnock, who chaired the Committee of Inquiry into Human Fertilisation and Embryology. Her 1984 report on the issue formed the basis of legislation in the UK and has been applied in other jurisdictions.
"If the laws are not founded on a secular consensus, then the law will fall into contempt," she said yesterday during her keynote address to the conference at Dublin Castle. "We really have to reach for something that people more or less will be satisfied with."
The question for her commission had been the status that should be afforded to the human embryo, she said. "That question was then and is now the centre of the discussion."
The Irish Commission on Assisted Human Reproduction was not set up to express an individual's "own moral views" but to advise Government.
Regulation was required, and in the UK the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act now controlled this activity and research in all hospitals and clinics whether public or private.
The alternative to regulation was to allow the market to dictate policy on the issue, and this was a conspicuous difference between the UK and the US, where there were fewer controls, and the supply of services was market-led.
"I believe this is very important," she said. "Many of us feel very queasy about the market influencing this area." The technology was moving towards the potential for "genetic manipulation", for example choosing the child's sex or to have faulty genes replaced and the spectre of "designer babies".
"The question must arise as to how far people should be permitted by law to go," she said. "It would be very dangerous to allow the market to dominate what might or might not be provided."
Even so there was no possibility that rules could be devised that would apply in all countries. There were cultural differences and differences in moral sensibilities that made this impossible.
It was unrealistic to worry too much about cloning, she said, because recent claims about cloned humans were unlikely to be true, and there would be no human cloning in the near future.
"The question of human cloning is exceptionally explosive, I think unduly so. I think the importance of human cloning can be exaggerated. Much more important is the central question about the status of the human embryo," Baroness Warnock said.
The UK had legislated to allow research on the human embryo up to 14 days after conception. It was illegal to continue research beyond this point or to attempt to keep the embryo alive outside the womb. Nor was it legal to attempt to clone an embryo and then implant it.