Dr Miriam Sciberras, Żabbar
No to the freezing of human embryos
Nationalist MP Jean-Pierre Farrugia was quoted on your website (January 3) as saying that as chairman of the parliamentary committee which had discussed assisted procreation, “once a new law is enacted, he would also start up a fund to give fiscal incentives so that all frozen embryos would be implanted in the womb of biological or adoptive mothers”.
The regulation of IVF legislation is needed urgently but I do not agree with the legislation as proposed, including the freezing of embryos.
The embryo is an existing human being, unique and irreplaceable. It has a right not to be manipulated or frozen.
The ‘miracle’ of IVF babies born is proof that those early human embryos are distinct human individuals.
Freezing of this human life is degrading and puts the embryos at unnecessary risk, as some are destroyed in the process of thawing, and is thus unacceptable.
It is a well researched fact that when freezing facilities are offered even as a last resort, there are always many surplus embryos left as a byproduct. There are also court cases in which separating couples refuse to allow donation of their genetic material, with the subsequent embryos unclaimed and eventually destroyed.
There are countries that have passed legislation on IVF without the freezing option, so if Malta did so it would be an exception in this regard.
Regarding the adoption of these surplus embryos, there are many issues involved that are not being discussed. Who would adopt embryos that carry a genetic disease, or that have been already eliminated on health grounds in the implantation process?
Besides, many other people are not prepared to endorse the freezing of embryos on moral or ethical grounds. Passing this legislation with the freezing option is highly objectionable.
A pro-life group made up of professionals, including doctors and consultants, has been set up.
The group, called Professionals Against Freezing of Embryos, will be formally launched shortly. We are against freezing and destruction of human life at all levels.
I invite all professional people who are against the freezing of embryos to join us. The public is also invited to support us.
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Muscat Pat
Jan 16th 2011, 19:54
Are.nt we Pro-life? Yes or NO?
Jean-pierre Farrugia
Jan 16th 2011, 11:50
I can assure my colleague from the dentistry profession that her brother-in-law Dr. Frans Agius, Dr. Michael Farrugia and myself spent 9 months deliberating about this delicate issue and it is rather surprising how she for one did not demand to discuss the issue with the Select Committee once she rightly feels so strongly about it. Let it be clear that for all three of us it was all about shouldering responsibility and not at all about rushing in where angels feared to tread!
The diagram accompanying the letter depicts a second trimester foetus ( more than 12 weeks ) while the Select Committee recommended strongly even against allowing days to pass to choose which embryo to make use of (blastocyst stage).
I have it from the horse's mouth that in the interval of 2 weeks this month the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit had to cater for the simultaneous admission of 6 extremely premature babies of 24 weeks gestation resulting from artificial multifetal gestation that unfortunately can only be avoided by improving IVF success rates by repeating the procedure using a minimal number of frozen embryos rather than introducing all 3 or 4 embryos at once.
Jean-pierre Farrugia
Jan 16th 2011, 10:53
Directive 2006/17/EC which defines ‘reproductive cells’ as all tissues and cells intended to be used for the purpose of assisted reproduction, hence including embryo adoption, stipulates that donations other than by partners must meet a number of criteria :
3.1. donors must be selected on the basis of their age, health and medical history
3.2. the donors must be negative for HIV 1 and 2, HCV, HBV and syphilis and sperm donors must additionally be negative for chlamydia
3.3. HTLV I antibody testing must be performed for donors living in or originating from high incidence areas
3.4. additional testing may be required depending on the donor’s history and the characteristics of the tissue or cells donated e.g. RhD, CMV
3.5. for autologous donors, if the removed tissues and cells are to be stored or cultured, the same minimum set of biological testing requirements must apply as for an allogeneic living donor
3.6. genetic screening for autosomal recessive genes known to be prevalent, according to international scientific evidence, in the donor’s ethnic background and an assessment of the risk of transmission of inherited conditions known to be present in the family must be carried out, after consent is obtained.
Joe Grima Brussels
Jan 16th 2011, 10:43
Personally I'm totally against the freezing of human embrios, as I consider human life is not to be experimented with, like any other object. I even consider experiments on animals as very cruel, although sometimes, 'necessary'. In this modern world, you get something of both extremes: doctors experimenting in laboratories on freezing embrios, 'saving' them for those who might 'need' them in future, while other doctors, in other laboratories, earning their money but murdering embrios!!!!! It seems that we do ANYTHING, EXCEPT letting nature take it's normal course in harmony. I believe this is an abuse in the guise of 'medical' science.
wally vella-zarb
Jan 16th 2011, 18:55
Do you always let "nature take its normal course in harmony" Mr Grima? If I had let "nature take its normal course" I and many others would not be around today.
C.Sammut
Jan 16th 2011, 10:35
Dear Dr Sciberras are you saying you would deny people undergoing chemo or radiotherapy or even surgery, the opportunity to be parents after they overcome cancerous episodes? Your statement is easily said when one is not going through such events. Decisions in such instances are not taken flippantly and routinely.
Joe Zammit
Jan 16th 2011, 09:37
Instruction Dignitas Personae of the Catholic Church:
Par.14 states: “The fact that the process of in vitro fertilization very frequently involves the deliberate destruction of embryos was already noted in the Instruction Donum vitae.[26] There were some who maintained that this was due to techniques which were still somewhat imperfect. Subsequent experience has shown, however, that all techniques of in vitro fertilization proceed as if the human embryo were simply a mass of cells to be used, selected and discarded.”
As human beings, embryos are not merchandise.
Jesmond Farrugia
Jan 16th 2011, 22:32
Well said.