The Italian Senate passed a draft law on artificial insemination on Thursday (12/ 1 1), which prohibits same-sex couples and single women from artificial insemination, AFP reported. The Senate passed the draft by a vote of 169 to 90, and the case has been sent back to the House of Representatives for detailed revision. However, officials said that the main content will remain unchanged until legislation is enacted.
The draft prohibits heterosexual couples from accepting sperm donated by a third party and prohibits women from using frozen sperm of the deceased to conceive after the death of their partner. The draft also limits women who receive artificial insemination to only three embryos, and stipulates that all three embryos must be implanted in their mothers. This regulation completely violates the current practice of cryopreservation of embryos in various parts of Europe.
Margherita Boniver, Vice Foreign Minister, described the new agreement as "sensational" and said that the draft reminded her of the inhuman treatment of Afghan women under the Taliban regime. Boniver pointed out that according to the provisions of the draft, if a woman receiving artificial insemination finds a fetal malformation, she can only admit that she is unlucky and have an abortion herself. She was surprised that such a terrible bill could be passed by a majority.
This draft caused a heated debate when it was discussed in Congress, and caused opposition between the ruling and the opposition. The right-wing ruling party, under the escort of the extreme right and Roman Catholicism, forcibly passed Guanshan and passed the case. Immediately after the vote, the Vatican issued a document condemning the opponents. The document labeled the opponents with a series of labels, including "anti-religious politicians" and "amateur liberals". Italy is now the only country in Europe that prohibits third-party sperm donation.
I have great respect for those who don't support some provisions of this bill because of their religious beliefs, but I believe that we should give firm support to embryonic stem cell research within appropriate rules and standards for ourselves and our future generations.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown published an article entitled "Why I think stem cell researchers deserve our support" in the Observer on May 18, urging parliamentarians to vote for the Artificial Insemination and Embryo Bill.
Britain's Artificial Insemination and Embryo Act explicitly allows the cultivation of mixed embryos of human and animals for research, which has become the focus of attention in Britain and even the whole world. The lower house of the British Parliament debated this bill for two consecutive days on May 19 and 20, and held a key vote. The British political parties, including the Labour Party, the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democratic Party, all allowed party member to vote freely on the four issues of greatest concern in the bill according to his own wishes. Among them, the study of mixed embryos of human and animals has undoubtedly become the most controversial content. On May 19, after several hours of heated debate, the House of Commons of the British Parliament voted to support the cultivation of mixed embryos for the treatment and research of Parkinson's disease, spinal muscular atrophy, Alzheimer's Harmo's disease and other difficult diseases.
At the same time, the House of Commons rejected the supplementary clause of the Artificial Insemination and Embryo Act by 336 votes to 176, which prohibits the cultivation of mixed embryos for medical purposes. Analysts predict that the law will take effect in early 2009 if it is approved by the House of Commons and the Queen of England.
One of the most important legislations of the current British government.
Britain has always occupied a leading position in human embryo research. With more and more British people's support for the research on mixed embryos between humans and animals, in June 5438+1October 65438+July this year, the British Bureau of Artificial Insemination and Embryology officially approved a research team from King's College London and a research team from Newcastle University to cultivate mixed embryos between humans and animals for research, and the research permit period was one year. The researchers injected human DNA into animal eggs from which almost all genetic material was removed, thus creating a mixed embryo. More than 99% of the genetic material of this embryo belongs to human beings and can be used to extract embryonic stem cells for research. Stem cells can differentiate into various tissues and organs of human body, and have broad application prospects in organ transplantation and exploring the causes of Parkinson's disease, spinal muscular atrophy, Alzheimer's disease and other diseases caused by stem cells with genetic defects. Therefore, the British government believes that the medical achievements brought about by allowing the cultivation of human-animal mixed embryos for research can alleviate the suffering of millions of patients.
On June 6th, 2007,165438+1October 6th, the controversial "Artificial Insemination and Embryo Act" was officially announced through the Queen's speech, and passed the third reading in the House of Lords on February 4th this year. It was sent to the House of Commons for the first time on February 5th, and entered the second reading stage on May 6th, 5438+02. The bill is considered to be one of the most important pieces of legislation of the current British government, among which the most striking and controversial content is to allow mixed embryos of humans and animals to be cultivated for research.
The bill has been controversial since its publication.
Because the Act stipulates that researchers have the right to cultivate mixed embryos of human and animals for medical research, the Law on Artificial Insemination and Embryo has been controversial since its promulgation. Especially since the British government approved the research on human-animal mixed embryos at the beginning of this year, the scientific, ethical and religious circles, as well as various charitable organizations and patient groups have launched a tit-for-tat heated debate around this matter.
Medical experts, charities and some patients claim that the research on mixed embryos of human and animals is very important to overcome diseases such as Parkinson's disease, so they strongly demand legal support from the government. More than 200 medical research institutions and charities, including Cancer Research UK and British Heart Foundation, sent a joint letter to all members of the lower house of the British Parliament, urging them to support the bill on mixed embryo research. According to the joint letter, they believe that the bill has sufficient public support, and that although there are still moral and ethical disputes about allowing the production of mixed embryos of humans and animals for research purposes, such research can bring great benefits to patients.
However, while the bill received great support, it was also resolutely opposed by ethicists and religious figures. They think it is unethical to study the mixed embryos of human and animals, and some even worry that the mixed embryos of human and animals may bring risks to human beings, such as introducing viruses that are harmless to animals but harmful to human beings. Religious opposition was particularly strong, and the bill was strongly resisted by Catholics.
For this reason, the Brown government, which intends to support the research on mixed embryos of human and animals through legislative means, is facing unprecedented challenges. There are different opinions on the bill within the Labour government. Catholic Transport Minister Ruth Kelly, Defence Minister Desbrown and Welsh Affairs Minister Paul Murphy all have reservations about this bill. Earlier, in order to ensure that the bill could be successfully passed in the lower house of the British Parliament in May, Brown decided to implement the "three-line spur order" and did not allow Labour MPs to vote against the Artificial Insemination and Embryo Act, otherwise they would face disciplinary action within the party. In fact, as early as the upper house of the British Parliament voted on the bill, Labour MPs received this instruction, and the bill was finally passed in the upper house more or less thanks to this instruction. However, this move aroused strong dissatisfaction from many Catholic Labour MPs, and as many as twelve ministers threatened to resign, which triggered a crisis in the British cabinet. In order to ease the contradiction, the Brown government reached a compromise with members of the Catholic Labour Party to ensure that they would not violate their beliefs when voting on the bill in the lower house of parliament.
Brown published an article urging members to support it.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is a staunch supporter of the Artificial Insemination and Embryo Act. In the face of opposition from Catholic members of the church and the Labour Party, on May 18, the day before the key vote in the House of Commons, Brown personally wrote an article in the influential Observer entitled "Why do I think stem cell researchers deserve our support?
Brown wrote in the article: "I have great respect for those who do not support some provisions of this bill because of their religious beliefs, but I believe that for ourselves and our descendants, we should give firm support to embryonic stem cell research within appropriate rules and standards." Brown also believes that from Parkinson's disease to Alzheimer's Harmo's disease, and even diseases that affect every family like cancer, using embryonic stem cells for research makes it open.
It is possible to develop new effective treatments to deal with these diseases that have plagued mankind for centuries. Brown also pointed out that in order to ensure the safe and legal use of stem cells, laws need to be enacted, and the Artificial Insemination and Embryo Act provides a legal framework for stem cell research. He also pointed out that, within this legal framework, mixed human-animal embryos will only be used for scientific research purposes, and the embryos can only be maintained at the initial level, and the growth period cannot exceed 14 days, so they cannot be transplanted into human uterus or other animals.
Brown believes that the research on human-animal mixed embryos has the potential to "save the lives of millions of patients" and calls on lawmakers to vote for it. At the end of the article, he said more firmly that he would support the Artificial Insemination and Embryo Act in a free vote on May 19.
Britain is one of the most advanced countries in artificial reproduction and embryonic stem cell research in the world, and it is also one of the few countries that adopt an open attitude on this issue at present. In addition to having excellent researchers, the British government is also actively supporting its research work through legislative means. As one of the most important legislations of the current British government, whether the Artificial Insemination and Embryo Act can finally become law and what the final bill will look like, not only the British people, but also the whole world will wait and see. It can be predicted that the legislative trend of Britain on this issue is of great significance for promoting relevant global legal systems and policies.