Mr. Speaker, I am thrilled to comment on that. I am worried that the minister is rushing the bill through. The type of process I want to do in my riding involves full disclosure from both sides of those who argue for and against these issues.
I do not think there will be time the way this thing is moving right now. It concerns me. We have an obligation as parliamentarians to share information with our constituents. Then we should find out whether they agree with our personal views or not.
In that regard I mentioned the convention held in Vancouver. I printed excerpts from that convention in the newspapers so that people would understand some of the things that were there:
That embryonic stem cells can be expanded in vitro while adult stem cells cannot. That embryonic stem cells do not seem to age, while adult stem cells tend to degenerate and fade. That scientists know how to engineer the embryonic stem cell's genome very efficiently and that embryonic stem cells can produce a large variety of specialized cells, both inside and outside the body. That scientists cannot at this time efficiently control the production of mature cells or specialized adult stem cells. The adult stem cells that scientists produce are not quite the same as the cells that are produced with embryonic stem cells. That almost every type of adult tissue contains stem cells but most adult stem cells can only regenerate the tissue from which they are taken.
I have presented some excerpts from a presentation given by two medical researchers in the Vancouver area. I am willing to bet that there are members who can stand up in the House and quote me from other researchers who contradict that. If that is the case, we are doing our constituents a disserve if we allow the bill to proceed to committee before the summer. We must keep this issue out there to give us time to sort out fact from fiction and ensure our constituents can direct us on what to do.