HOUSE OF LORDS SELECT COMMITTEE ON STEM CELL RESEARCH

Early day motion 570, tabled 9 April 2001 by David Drew (Labour/Co-operative). Signed by 14 members.

That this House notes with concern the biased composition of the House of Lords Select Committee on Stem Cell Research; regards with dismay that not one of its members spoke against human cloning or the use of the human embryo for experiments in either the House of Lords debates on 22nd January or in the 1990 debates on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act; notes that the Right Reverend Richard Harries, Lord Bishop of Oxford, Chairman of the Committee, has supported human cloning throughout the recent debates; further notes with alarm that his statements regarding the Christian tradition on the status of the human embryo and foetus are rejected by significant sections of the Anglican church to which he belongs; notes that these include REFORM, a strong Evangelical Anglican body; and New Directions, a highly respected publication with the Anglican communion; further notes that the Evangelical Alliance and the Linacre Centre on Health Care Ethics (the foremost British authority on traditional Christian teaching regarding human life) have challenged the Bishop's assertions; notes the statement from the Orthodox churches that 'nothing in traditional, Christian teaching ... can be used to justify' the decision in the Lords; supports the call in Early Day Motion 237 that a Select Committee should be established of 11 honourable Members of this House nominated by the Committee of Selection to consider the ethical, social and political implications of human and other genetic engineering; and urges that this should now include stem cell research and human cloning.

Signatures by party: Conservative 3, Labour 3, Labour/Co-operative 3, UUP 3, DUP 1, Liberal Democrat 1.