Australian PM changes mind over conscience vote on cloning

Just two weeks after Australian Prime Minister John Howard ruled out the possibility of a 'conscience vote' on the use of cloning procedures for medical research, he has changed his mind. Howard had refused to lift current prohibitions on cloning for embryonic stem cell (ES cell) research, despite the 2005 Lockhart report recommending that this (often known as 'therapeutic cloning') should now be allowed in the country. Howard's position attracted strong criticism from scientists and patient groups, and two State Premiers, Steve Bracks of Victoria and Peter Beattie of Queensland, vowed to 'go it alone' in ES cell research if such work continues to face a federal ban.

In Australia, the Research Involving Human Embryos Act and the Prohibition of Human Cloning Act, both passed in 2002 after much debate, together ban reproductive cloning, prevent scientists from cloning embryos to obtain stem cells and restrict them to research on surplus IVF embryos created before the acts were passed, and donated by IVF patients who no longer require them. Last December, a six-member Legislative Review Committee, chaired by the now deceased John Lockhart, a former Federal Court judge, recommended that the existing laws on cloning and stem cell research should be relaxed. A recent poll, carried out by Roy Morgan, showed that 80 per cent of the Australian public support therapeutic cloning research.

Now, a coalition of MPs have convinced John Howard that the time is right to allow more debate on therapeutic cloning and that he should allow a conscience vote on the issue later in the year. 'There's no reason why Parliament can't handle a free vote on an issue like this', Howard said, adding that some of the best debates come from contentious issues such as this, but that he believes 'it's a debate the community can handle, it's a debate Parliament can handle'. In response to the change of heart, Kay Patterson, a former Health Minister, has stepped forward, saying that she will prepare a private member's bill that will propose 'limited use' of 'therapeutic cloning'.

Health Minister Tony Abbot, a known opponent of ES cell research, said he was surprised the unanimous 2002 vote was 'apparently out of date so soon' and also that a change in the law would allow more than just ES cell research. 'We shouldn't be willy-nilly creating potential human life just to satisfy the urges of the scientific community', he said. But opponents of ES cell research, including Mr Abbot, have been accused of making misleading claims about what would actually be allowed if the law was changed. Abbot and others have warned of a possible move towards the 'creation of animal-human hybrids' and have played on the word 'cloning' as if children were going to be born following the procedure, say critics. Michael Johnson, a Liberal MP, said that the debate should be factually based. 'I have respect for Tony Abbott for his right to passionately held views, but I think he discredits himself when he seeks to promote his views with such unhelpful and clearly inaccurate language', he said.