TREASURER:
… expert committee, and I want to carefully consider what it says. I think the capacity for medical research to treat diseases like Parkinson’s disease is so important, but I do not believe that potential lives can be created and destroyed. Now if there is a way through this that can protect and respect human life whilst allowing medical research to continue, I would like to find it, and I will be looking carefully at the report.
JOURNALIST:
Does the idea of creating embryos then at an early stage in order to carry out scientific research constitute that balance of life?
TREASURER:
I would be against creating embryos for the purpose of destroying them in medical research. I think that is taking a callous view of life, but where there are stem cells that otherwise would be destroyed, and they can be put to a medical use which has the potential to deliver treatment for life saving treatment, then I would be in favour of that. And it is a careful balance, I want to very carefully consider the issues. Thanks.
I would be against creating embryos for the purpose of destroying them in medical research. I think that is taking a callous view of life, but where there are stem cells that otherwise would be destroyed, and they can be put to a medical use which has the potential to deliver treatment for life saving treatment, then I would be in favour of that. And it is a careful balance, I want to very carefully consider the issues. Thanks.