Filed on 18 September 2006 in Submissions category. Print This Page

UNIVERSAL TRUTH

All human life matters

Creation for destruction is
a boundary we must not cross

We must not clone and we must not kill

Submission to Members of Parliament.

Dr Lachlan Dunjey MBBS FRACGP DObstRCOG
33 Bunya St Dianella WA 6059
0407 937 513

September 2006

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The morality of the 21st century will depend on how we respond to this simple but profound question:

Does every human life have equal moral value simply and merely because it is human?
Answer yes, and we have a chance of achieving universal human rights.
Answer no, and it means we are merely another animal in the forest.

(As featured on Starbuck’s take-away coffee cups this year by Wesley J. Smith who writes “the philosophy of human exceptionalism is the bedrock of universal human rights. Or, to put it another way: human life matters.”)

What the paralysed child in the wheelchair brought out to gain sympathy for destructive embryo research does not realise – and, mercifully, could not comprehend – is that it is her life that is ultimately at risk. We must protect the weak and the vulnerable at all stages of existence otherwise we open the door to the discarding of human life at any stage including infanticide and euthanasia.

All human life matters. This is universal truth. It transcends race and creed.

To overcome this truth the cloning lobby has mounted a deceptive battle to dehumanise the cloned embryo.

We therefore make a plea for clarity and truth:

• Cloning using human cells creates human embryos – fundamental biological, unarguable fact.
• SCNT is cloning. SCNT is the technique used to produce the embryo.
• An SCNT clone is human life whether we call it an embryo or not. It is human life even when it ‘is not intended to be born’. Let’s tell the truth and call it by its proper name – an embryo.
• Embryos produced for research are created to be destroyed. This is an essential part of proposed legislation. We cannot afford to cross the boundary of Creation for Destruction. We cannot afford to practice medicine without morality.

But logic and truth it seems is not enough. The cry in response then is but we need to do this too and if we don’t we will lose scientists. Now as it happens we have brilliant scientists who are doing great work on adult stem cells. It would seem that our research reputation being at risk is a scare tactic and beat-up campaign by those determined to cross these ethical boundaries. Even if the moral argument that we should not destroy human life is lost on these people it must not be lost by the leaders of our nation.

Once we have accepted this, the great consolation is that Australian adult stem cell research is in such a good state as to render unnecessary the destruction of human life. Adult stem cells offer the child in the wheelchair real promise after all.

Creation of human life for destruction is a boundary we must not cross.
We must not clone and we must not kill.
Dr Lachlan Dunjey MBBS FRACGP DObstRCOG

Executive Summary

From: The Human Embryo, Cloning and Medicine without Morality – A Comment on the Lockhart Review Committee Report
(found on www.medicinewithoutmorality.info)

The recommendations of the Lockhart Legislation Review Committee cross moral boundaries that ought never to be crossed. These include the deliberate creation of human life for the express purpose of destructive research, cloning, and the mixing of human and animal genetic material.

In using one permission or decision to justify another on the grounds of fairness and consistency and not a major additional step(s) the report illustrates very cogently the step-wise ‘slippery slope’ into medicine without morality.

In changing the definition of human embryo to allow research to occur without breaking the law, the committee has engaged in blatant subterfuge. It also disguises a human embryo clone as a cellular extension of the original subject and that it only aims to copy a person’s cells.

In considering the views from different sections of the community the committee would appear to have given undue weight to scientists wishing to further advance their research and has disregarded what we consider to be moral absolutes. We believe that expert committees with a more full appreciation of the big picture and of precedents being set should be responsible in setting moral standards.

We believe that ethical research ultimately wins out and we would like to see Australia as a light-bearer in ethical and moral research. We cannot afford to practice medicine without morality.

Cloning is cloning. There is no difference between a therapeutic clone and a reproductive clone. The adjectives therapeutic and reproductive describe their future, the former being destined to destruction with the hope that at some future time that destruction may have therapeutic benefit, the latter being destined for life outside the uterus but condemned to death because to be implanted and born is prohibited.

It is now incumbent on our Members of Parliament to uphold ethical and moral values that honour our country. It is their right and obligation to speak for such values. There is a moral compass that we as a nation must uphold and it must be upheld at this point. Our nation requires this strong, moral leadership to make Australia a safe place to raise our children.

Following:

Griffith University: Stem Cell Research
Letter from signatories to www.medicinewithmorality.org.au