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DLRM PRESS RELEASE-----------------------

FROM DOLLY TO MOLLY TO FOLLY

October 31, 2000

THE GENERAL PUBLIC HAS BEEN COMPLETELY TAKEN BY SURPRISE BY THE LATEST MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIES

These technologies have already raised major moral and ethical questions about their use and also about their possible abuse.

THE GENERAL PUBLIC, OR THE "EXPERTS"

The fate of technologies with potentially far-reaching consequences for society needs to be carefully considered by society itself, before pronouncements are made. No longer is it sufficient for the "experts" alone to make such crucial commitments. Even government ministers have admitted that purely scientific advisory committees have "lost the confidence of the public".

THE SITUATION REGARDING DOLLY AND MOLLY

The average thinking person is still trying to digest the implications of Dolly, the cloned sheep. Now we also have Molly to think about. The selection of a test-tube baby boy to provide a stem cell transplant to save his sister's life produced major headlines all over the world about the ethics of this procedure. If all goes well, brother and sister will both lead normal, healthy lives. This would represent a medical success, but with what ethical strings attached?

THE EXAMPLES OF "BABY FAE" AND "BABE"

The tragic story of "baby Fae", who received a baboon heart in an experimental procedure, is well known. This procedure was carried out despite the fact that the majority of medical opinion was against it and ignoring the fact that a safer medical procedure was available at the time.

Babe the porcine film star, (in the context of this press release) represents the genetically modified pigs which have been especially bred to provide organs for transplantation into human patients. The breeding of these transgenic pigs hardly caused an ethical ripple in comparison with Molly's stem-cell transplant. However, it should be noted that pig to human organ transplants are fraught with medical and public health problems and could easily transmit new and devastating diseases into the human population.

LET US EXAMINE A POSSIBLE SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM

The above examples illustrate just how inconsistent and unprepared the system is when dealing with these issues. They also serve to illustrate the enormous problems facing society today on the issue of new medical technologies; problems which society must deal with without delay if we are to avoid matters getting out of control.

One solution might be the concept of the Danish-style public committee. The idea is not completely foreign to the UK, in fact, two such conferences have been held in the UK (one on genetically modified foods, in 1994; and the other on radioactive waste management, in 1999).

The individuals who sit on these public committees are chosen on the basis of standard criteria, as truly representing the public interest. The committee members interview an officially recognised panel of experts on the topic under discussion and then submit their own recommendations to a parliamentary committee which ideally takes this information into consideration in the ensuing regulatory process.

Ends

 

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