Mary Henry (Independent)

I welcome Ms Scallon to the House. It is a pleasure to have her here. I am sorry she could not elaborate on the question of stem cell research. I support the view taken by the Government and I believe the Tánaiste dealt with the matter courageously and clearly. All medical research should have ethical controls and guidelines. As Members will recall, four yeas ago I tried to introduce legislation by way of a Private Members' Bill to regulate in vitro fertilisation. Unfortunately, it was not accepted, although the purpose of the legislation was simple. All that was required was for clinics to be registered, that they be obliged to say what they did, outline their success rate and what they charged. It is unfortunate that four years later we still do not know how many clinics are operating in the country.

I want to take the issue of the proposed EU Commission guidelines on stem cell research a little further. Many people may not be aware that their purpose is to control what is going on. I was particularly taken by the fact that the precautionary principle is in place, whereby if it is possible to use adult stem cells they and not embryonic stem cells should be used.

There is a very difficult situation with regard to the pharmaceutical industry in this country. Most of the pharmaceutical companies here are derived from parent companies in the United States. Biotechnology firms within the US specifically grow embryonic stem cell lines. Two of the largest of these firms – Vestigen Corporation and Geno Corporation, both based in California – undertake toxicity testing on embryonic stem cells for, I understand, almost all the American pharmaceutical companies.