Madam, - Adrian Carroll (November 25th) challenged those of us who oppose the destructive research on living embryos if we would refuse therapies developed from such experiments. For me and many others the answer is Yes. I don't believe that another person's life should be ended so I may have a more comfortable or longer existence.
Some time ago, newspaper reports from China claimed that some healthy, poverty-stricken peasants were being murdered by ill, wealthy people who are in need of a new heart, kidney, liver or other other body part. EU-sanctioned experimentation can only have the same long term effect. Will we be using handicapped or senile people next? - Yours, etc.,
UNA UÍ SCOLAÍ, Mountjoy Square, Dublin 1.
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Madam, - The EU Commission is devious and out of control. Wednesday's vote on the funding of embryo stem cell research was again postponed because the Commission could not achieve the consensus position it needed.
A number of member-states are against this type of funding but the Commission is determined to force it through, even though only nine out of 15,000 submissions received were in support. It is deplorable that the Irish Government supports the Commission proposal.
Mary Harney's statement that unregulated research can now proceed is untrue. The European Commission cannot proceed with any research on embryo stem cells without ethical guidelines from the Council, but no agreement was reached at the meeting of EU Trade Ministers. As no guidelines are in place, the door to funding cannot be opened.
Last week Commissioner Busquin said he welcomed the Portuguese compromise proposal, but he has now withdrawn that support.
Clearly adult stem-cell research is the way forward in Europe. I am now calling on the Irish Government to have some backbone, stand up to the Commission and, in line with Ireland's Constitution, withdraw its support for funding embryo stem-cell research. - Yours, etc.,
DANA ROSEMARY SCALLON, MEP, Galway.
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Madam, - Arthur Beesley's report on embryo stem-cell research (November 26th) refers to the "more extreme reservations" of Youth Defence.
More extreme than the proposal to deliberately take the life of an unborn human being? - Yours, etc.,
DONAL O'DRISCOLL, Blackrock, Co Dublin.