UNSW Embryology

Embryology Legal Issues

© Dr Mark Hill (2008)

Acknowledgements

Introduction

This page is related to Embryology and the Law. Please note that this is not a comprehensive coverage or even current coverage of all issues. Legislation will vary from country to country and even state to state (in Australia). Many of the issues relate to Ethical principles and rights, which are different for humans and animals.

The main issues relating to the law are: Human Rights, Reproductive Technologies, fertility, abortion, gene manipulation, Quarantine

Note that the dynamic nature of the internet means that some external links may change and no longer work, if so search with the text term of the link.

This information is provided for educational purposes only.

Page Links: Introduction | United Nations- Human Rights | Agriculture and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand (July 1997) | Australian Legislation | Australian Legislation | National Health and Medical Research Council | New Zealand | USA | Europe | Council of Europe - Bioethics | United Kingdom | UK Department of Health- HFEA |

United Nations- Human Rights

COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS HUMAN RIGHTS AND SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS

15 November 1994, Fifty-first session Item 14

3 December 1996, Fifty-third session Item 12

COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS- HUMAN RIGHTS AND SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS 1997 (Local Copy)

Australian Legislation

ACT QLD NSW SA Tas Vic WA Commonwealth
NHMRC Other Australian Quarantine

Australian Capital Territory

• ARTIFICIAL CONCEPTION ACT 1985
• ARTIFICIAL CONCEPTION ORDINANCE 1985
• Surrogacy- This discussion paper reflects the state of act law as at October 1993.

Queensland

• STATUS OF CHILDREN ACT 1978

New South Wales

• Artificial conception. Report 1. Human artificial insemination
  • New South Wales. Law Reform Commission Law Reform Paper
  • ISSN: 0 7305 1590 7
• Artificial conception: in vitro fertilization (1988)
  • New South Wales Law Reform Commission Law Reform Paper
  • ISBN: 0 7305 5571 2

South Australia

• REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY ACT, 1988
• REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY (CODE OF ETHICAL CLINICAL PRACTICE) REGULATIONS 1995

Tasmania

• Committee to investigate artifical conception and related matters

Victoria

• HEALTH ACT 1958 - SECT 133 (tissue donations)
• INFERTILITY TREATMENT ACT 1995
• INFERTILITY TREATMENT REGULATIONS 1997

Western Australia

• ARTIFICIAL BREEDING OF STOCK ACT 1965
• ARTIFICIAL BREEDING (CATTLE) REGULATIONS 1978
• ARTIFICIAL CONCEPTION ACT 1985
• HUMAN REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY ACT 1991
• FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1992 (exemption under this act)
• HUMAN REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY (LICENCES AND REGISTERS) REGULATIONS 1993

Commonwealth Government

• FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGAINST HUMAN CLONING
  • Dr Michael Wooldridge14 January, 1998
  • The Federal Minister for Health and Family Services
• The Australian Health Ethics Committee has produced a report for the Minister, Scientific, Ethical and Regulatory Considerations Relevant to Cloning of Human Beings , 1998. (Download PDF Document)

National Health and Medical Research Council

• NHMRC Statement on Human Experimentation and Supplementary Notes
• Draft Guidance on Ethical Aspects of Human Genetic Testing
• Draft Guidelines for Genetic Registers and Associated Genetic Material
• Information for Institutional Ethics Committees (IECs)
• Human Genetics

Australia

Non-Legislative

Australian Human Rights Information Centre

• Australian Journal of Human Rights Volume Two * Number Two
  • Patient Status: The Foetus And The Pregnant Woman

E Law - Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law

• E Law - Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law, Vol 3, No 1 (May 1996)
  • For Love or Money: The Legal Regulation of Surrogate Motherhood
    • by Anita Stuhmcke
• E Law - Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law, Vol 4, No 3 (September 1997)
  • The Regulation of In-Vitro Fertilisation: Social Norms and Discrimination
    • Deborah Porter

Human embryo experimentation in Australia

• Australia. Parliament. Senate. Select Committee on the Human Embryo Experimentation Bill 1985

Genetic Manipulation

• Victoria. Law Reform Commission Law Reform Paper
  • ISBN: 0 7306 0553 1

Foundation Law

• Justice Kirby's Papers- Human Freedom and the Human Genome 25 January 1999

• Creating children : a uniform approach to the law and practice of reproductive technology in Australia. Report of the Family Law Council incorporating the report of the Asche Committee on issues relating to AID, IVF embryo transfer and related matters, 1985, Canberra
  • Asche, Austin Australia. Attorney-General's Department
  • ISBN: 0 644 04238 9

National Health and Medical Research Council (Historic)

• NH&MRC Supplementary Note 4 (1982) In vitro fertilization and embryo transfer Supplementary Note 4 adopted by Council at its 94th Session, October 1982.
• NH&MRC Statement on Human Experimentation and Supplementary Notes (1992)
• NH&MRC Supplementary Note 5 (1983) Research involving the human fetus and the use of human fetal tissue

Commonwealth Government

• FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGAINST HUMAN CLONING
  • Dr Michael Wooldridge14 January, 1998
  • The Federal Minister for Health and Family Services

ABC Radia National- Law Report Transcripts

• Gun control laws, the rights of embryos, and discrimination in the legal profession

New Zealand

Agriculture and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand (July 1997)

armcanz Regulation of Gene Technology

Report to SCARM by the Working Group to Examine the Regulatory System for Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)

URL http://www.affa.gov.au/armcanz/gene/

Animals Act 1967  050 Commenced: 16 Nov 1967 III: Disease Control 26A

Regulations governing animal embryos

USA

March 2001 USA considers human embryo research under the new Bush administration, an article from the BBC.

Chicago-Kent College of Law, Symposium on Reproductive Technologies, Dec 5, 1997

• CHANGING CONCEPTIONS- How Science and Law Are Shaping Future Generations
  Clicking the names below links to a transcript of each presentation.
  
  • Robert Edwards, Ph.D., of Bourn Hall, England, the scientist responsible for the first in vitro fertilization birth
  • Keith Campbell, Ph.D., scientist on the team responsible for the cloning of Dolly the sheep, co-inventor on the patent
  • Florence Haseltine, Ph.D., M.D., director, Center for Population Research, National Institutes of Health
  • Arthur Caplan, Ph.D., director, Center for Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania "Setting Moral Rules for Reproduction"

• A Pregnant Pause: Are Women Who Undergo Fertility Treatments to Achieve Pregnancy Within the Scope of Title VII's Pregnancy Discrimination Act?
  • Cintra D. Bentley

• REGULATING GENETIC DESTINY: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF LEGAL CONSTRAINTS IN EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES
  • by Anne Lawton

Albany Law School

• Procreative Rights in Assisted Reproductive Technology: Why the Angst?
  • Vincent F. Stempel

Europe

• UK Summary of the Legal Position in other European countries (1998)

• March 2001- Italian doctor claims he will carry out first human cloning. Generates enormous furore in Scientific/Medical/Ethical communities. See CNN articles.
• Transcript of discussion on ABC Radio (Dr. J Kahn , Dr. JWagner) on Genetic Technology And Ethics
• February 2001- The Human Genome was simultaneously published in papers in both Science and Nature journals. While still incomplete it is the most accurate map of the genetic background for development. The sequence was developed by both an international consortium and a commercial group. Note that knowing what genes are present in the genome is only the first step, you then have to know their function. See also introduction to the Human Genome pages. 
• January 2001- The British parliament passes a law under the 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act to allow cloning of human embryos. This cloning is to be carried out for scientific research purposes only to human stem cells.

Third Symposium on Bioethics (15-18 December 1996, Strasbourg, France)
Clicking on the Title below lists the abstracts from this meeting.

• Medically-assisted Procreation and Protection of Human Embryo (abstracts)
  • Nature and Status of the Embryo - Legal Aspects
  • Are Multiple Pregnancies an Inevitable Consequence of Assisted Reproduction Techniques?
  • Ethical aspects of preimplantation diagnosis
  • First trimester fetal reduction: its role in the management of twin and higher order multiple pregnancies
  • Conditions for embryo research in particular the "only surplus embryos" condition

ETHICAL ISSUES ARISING FROM THE APPLICATION OF BIOTECHNOLOGY

• Palacio de Congresos Oviedo (Spain) 16-19 May 1999

Council of Europe - Bioethics

• CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN BEING WITH REGARD TO THE APPLICATION OF BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE: CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND BIOMEDICINE Oviedo, 04.IV.199
• EXPLANATORY REPORT: TO THE CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN BEING WITH REGARD TO THE APPLICATION OF BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE: CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND BIOMEDICINE

• Global Responsibilities and Bioethics: Reflections on the Council of Europe's Bioethics Convention
  • Eibe Riedel

United Kingdom

Parliament (UK) - Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill introduced 8 November 2007, as a review of the law first announced in January 2004, which included a public consultation in 2005. "The Bill is intended to update the regulation of assisted reproduction and embryo research (primarily by amending the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990), to ensure that it is fit for purpose in the 21st Century."

Bill key proposals:

• ensuring that all human embryos outside the body – whatever the process used in their creation - are subject to regulation
• regulation of “inter-species” embryos created from a combination of human and animal genetic material for research
• a ban on sex selection of offspring for non-medical reasons
• retention of a duty to take account of the welfare of the child in providing fertility treatment, but removal of the reference to “the need for a father”
• recognising same-sex couples as legal parents of children conceived through the use of donated sperm, eggs or embryos
• altering the restrictions on the use of data collected by the regulator to make it easier to do follow-up research
• increasing the scope of legitimate embryo research activities, subject to controls

(More? Dept of Health - Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill (UK)

• CLONING ISSUES IN REPRODUCTION, SCIENCE AND MEDICINE. (ISSUED JANUARY 1998)
  • This article has links to other relevant papers- Listed Here
  • Also summarizes Legal Position in other European countries (1998)
• HUMAN GENETICS ADVISORY COMMISSION: PROGRESS UPDATE   29 Sept 1997
• Post note available as PDF Document Fetal Awareness
  • http://www.dti.gov.uk/hgac/press/press_d.htm

UK Department of Health- HFEA

• HUMAN FERTILISATION AND EMBRYOLOGY
• The Role of the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority
  • This page last updated 30 July 1997
• The retrieval, storage, and use of human gametes (sperm and eggs) and the consent provisions in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990
• Surrogacy - Review for the UK Health Ministers of current arrangements for payments and regulations
• Manual for Centres
  • Download Manual as a PDF File

References

Metabolism and disposition kinetics of nicotine. Hukkanen J, Jacob P 3rd, Benowitz NL. Pharmacol Rev. 2005 Mar;57(1):79-115. Review.

Web Links

• Book Title- William S. Hein & Co., Inc.Hein Master Catalog REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY A RESEARCH GUIDE TO THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE FROZEN HUMAN EMBRYO
  • Author: Coppo, Timothy 1 volume(Vol.) $39.50 (9) 40 (12) pp, 1996, ISBN:0-89941-982-8, LC:95-33288 This guide raises many legal, medical, and ethical issues involving cryopreservation and vitro fertilization and discusses legislation on this topic which has been passed. Additionally, secondary sources, methods of legal research, and other information which will be of assistance to legal researchers is covered.
• THE POLITICS OF ABORTION AND BIRTH CONTROL IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE edited by Donald T. Critchlow. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1996. 180 pp.
  • Reviewed by Cynthia Harrison
• Report on the disposition of embryos produced by in vitro fertilization (1984)
  • Waller, Louis
  • Victoria, Australia (1984). Committee to consider the social, ethical and legal issues arising from in vitro fertilization (1984)

Glossary

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

Quick Links

Development Notes ----------------- Menstrual Cycle Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Placenta Serial Images Genes/DNA Molecular Dev Abnormal Dev Postnatal Dev Notes Index

System Notes ----------------- Heart/Cardiovascular Respiratory Coelomic cavity Gastrointestinal Tract Head and Neck Neural Neural Crest Eye Ear Nose Endocrine Urogenital Musculoskeletal Integumentary

Finally

For those wanting to see dynamic processes of development (and have a reasonably quick connection) then the Movies pages are good for watching changes occur.

Movies ----------------- Embryo Growth Carnegie Stages Ultrasound Images Stage 13/14 Embryo Stage 22 Embryo Heart Septation Neural Neural Crest Other Embryos Larsen Movies

Other Embryos

The study of human development has relied extensively on studying the process in other model animals. For those wanting to see the process of development in other species then the other embryos pages are a good start.

Other Embryos ----------------- Chicken Fly Frog Mouse Rabbit Rat Worm Zebrafish Guinea Pig

UNSW Embryology ISBN: 978 0 7334 2609 4

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