Madam Speaker, we try to get everyone to listen to us and convince them of our point of view and bring them around to that point of view. In doing so I want to direct people's attention to the very title of the bill. By omitting the one word “assisted” which is provided as a modifier, the title of the bill is “an act respecting human reproduction”. Let us think about that title for a moment, “an act respecting human reproduction”. That is what we are arguing about in debate. The point many of us are trying to make is that there has to be respect for the entire process of human reproduction.
I have an interesting story to tell that relates directly to this. This is the story of the banana tree. The banana tree as we know it produces a wonderful fruit. Perhaps people have noticed while eating a banana, especially if it has been sliced so that there is a very clean cut across the fruit, that it is made up of a lot of white fruit but toward the centre there are some dark brown dots that have the same consistency as the rest of the banana. When eaten, those dark brown dots go down very well and are digested very well. In the beginning of the banana they were the seeds. That was how the banana tree reproduced way back in times gone by.
The banana tree can no longer reproduce by seed. Originally when the banana reproduced by seed, it was virtually inedible. The seeds were large and hard and could not be chewed or digested. Basically, those seeds destroyed what has come to be a magnificent fruit that many people depend on as part of their diet.
How did we get the banana tree of today if it cannot reproduce by way of seed? The answer is that we clone it. That is part of what the bill is about. People are talking about the whole concept of cloning.
The banana tree as we know it is a clone. Every banana tree, whether it be in the southern United States, in South America, Hawaii or anywhere else in the world, is directly related to the original banana tree that was developed for the purpose of creating edible fruit. This is what happens when people start to play God even with something as simple as a tree.
Where lies the problem in the case of the banana tree? The banana tree that we have today is almost at the end of its existence because it is a clone of the original tree, a direct, exact copy of the original tree.
When things develop normally, when some new problem affects it, be it a virus or in the case of the banana tree a fungus, over the years it develops the ability to cope and to deal with it. However, because the banana tree that we have today is in fact thousands of years old, if a new fungus comes along and attacks the banana tree, the banana tree cannot defend itself from that fungus.
What is happening as a direct result is that on all the banana plantations the trees are not dying but their lifespan is being shortened to three to five years. This makes it totally impractical for them to be a commercial harvest. We may very well within our own lifetimes see the end of the banana tree. It may come to an end and may be gone.
Now we start talking about the concept of cloning humans and other adaptations. When we start playing with science without knowing the consequence of the outcome, when we dare to become the gods, we have not the slightest idea of what pitfalls and travesties we may be opening ourselves to for future generations. We may in this day and age by even contemplating the possibility of cloning be dooming the future existence of the human population.
I would like to go on to some specifics in the bill. They are things that have been mentioned before but they are very important and cannot be stressed too much.
In terms of the whole concept of embryonic stem cell research and what can generally be described as non-embryonic stem cell research, one of the problems we have, whether it be in this or in a variety of other areas, when we focus on one thing to the exclusion or even the death of others, we sometimes have to wonder if we are on the right track. If the voting were to happen, a lot of the research and obviously the money for research would be put toward embryonic stem cells. If that choice were made, we would be taking from the minds and efforts of some brilliant scientists, the funds, equipment and facilities they would use to investigate further development of non-embryonic stem cells for the betterment of mankind. We would be taking that potential away from them and having them focus instead on embryonic stem cell research.
Putting aside for a moment the whole concept of the moral question, what about where there has been proven success and, as has been amply demonstrated throughout this debate, all kinds of success in the use of non-embryonic cells? We have listed such things. Certainly bringing the moral questions in, it removes most if not all of the moral questions. It removes a source problem. It removes the rejection problem.
I know people, in some cases good friends of mine, who have had transplants and are on a regimen of anti-rejection drugs for the rest of their lives. We might take a vitamin pill in the morning and think nothing of it but for them it is not one pill, but a heavy regimen of pills that affect them for the rest of their lives. They have to make sure that they are carrying enough pills with them. What if they lose them? What if they are stuck somewhere and cannot get the pills? All these things go through their heads.
Now we are looking at the possibility of asking ourselves whether we should be spending our research and resources looking into embryonic stem cell research or should we be doing it on non-embryonic research where we already have proven success and where we do not have the anti-rejection regimen.
Motion No. 88 talks about the potential for abuse and recognizes that there are abuses. There will be abuses in any program.
Even in the House, as much as we would like to think we are all perfect and we are all honourable persons, abuses do occur. That is why we have provisions for such things as contempt of Parliament which is raised from time to time. Sometimes it may be argued that it is done politically and maybe as a result of that the charges are dismissed, but at other times when contempt of Parliament is brought forward and there has been found to be a case, action has been taken. Even in this place, as honourable as all the members attempt to be, there are abuses at times.
Motion No. 88 recognizes that these potential abuses could exist. The amendment requires the agency to establish limits for in vitro fertilization procedures on the number of ova that can be harvested or fertilized, the number of in vitro fertilization embryos that can be implanted at any time, the number that can be stored for later use and so on. The health committee recommended that there be limits placed on these activities. For some reason the government in its wisdom did not see fit to include them.
Again, going to the concept of abuses, Motion No. 89 talks about how a licensee who violates the act, in other words who causes one of those abuses, may have that licence suspended.
I ask all hon. members to again remember the title of the bill, an act respecting human reproduction. If members keep that title in mind I am sure they will ultimately do the right thing.