Seanad debates

Thursday, 17 December 2009

11:00 am

Photo of Liam TwomeyLiam Twomey (Fine Gael)

In recent years there have been amazing developments in the field of biomedicine. Two miles from my front door in County Wexford is a company that is heavily involved in the storage of biological tissue for some of our major hospitals. It is currently developing links with international companies for the biological treatment of serious illnesses within our health care system. It is also developing the cryo-storage of umbilical cord blood, which is very important for the future treatment of cancers and will have a European-wide impact in the field of biomedicine.

Why is the Government closing the bio-ethics organisation that is so important in regulating the ethics of what is happening in the field of biomedicine? It costs €300,000 a year but when one considers the important role it would play, not just in the future of medicine but for the technological development of this country in the area of exports and high technology that we are supposed to be moving into, it is worrying that the Government sees fit to close the organisation responsible for the ethical development of these treatments. This is a retrograde step which should be stopped immediately.

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