Maltese bioethics experts believe the Vatican's hard-hitting document on in vitro fertilisation should spur the government into enacting legislation, and not serve as a deterrent.

The much-debated parliamentary recommendations on biotechnology remain in gestation three years on, and many feared the Holy See's 32-page document, Dignitatis Personae (Dignity of the Person), would never see the birth of laws that regulate this sector.

However, Fr Peter Serracino Inglott, Bioethics Consultative Committee chairman Michael Asciak and bioethicist Pierre Mallia all agree that regulation is needed.

Fr Serracino Inglott went a step further and said regulation should take place at the earliest, adding that undoubtedly there was abuse because it was lacking.

He pointed out that Pope Benedict XVI himself repeated that a country's legislation need not be in conformity with moral principles. This meant the state could allow practices which are considered to be immoral without making them a crime.

"If every sin was made a crime, we would have a totalitarian government, which is the opposite of what a government should be," Fr Serracino Inglott said.

The Vatican's new document, which is an update of a 1987 document called Donum Vitae (Gift of Life) condemned artificial fertilisation, human cloning, designer babies, embryonic stem cell research, the morning-after pill and RU-486, a drug which blocks the action of hormones needed to keep fertilised eggs implanted in the womb.

The document was issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which was headed by the Pope before his election as pontiff in April 2005.

The Vatican's recommendations triggered a strong reaction from a mother who had a baby through IVF after having trouble conceiving naturally.

"It is very painful to try and have a baby but be unable to conceive. The Church has no idea. I feel offended and angry," she said, adding that for her, IVF was a last resort following failed attempts to conceive naturally.

The young mother, who preferred to remain unnamed, recalled how hard it was to see her friends having children while going through the trauma of being unable to have her own child. Looking at her three-year-old child now, she does not regret for one minute having gone through the procedure.

"It makes it all worthwhile. If it wasn't for IVF, my child wouldn't be here," she said, adding that she would not have any qualms doing it again if she decided to have more children and was unable to conceive naturally.

IVF has been taking place in Malta for some 20 years, so the Church's stand could be insulting for children conceived through the procedure, Dr Mallia said.

Malta is still without regulation on IVF and other bioethical technology, but sources insisted local IVF practitioners followed the best medical practice, just like in all other sections of medicine that are not individually regulated by the state.

Dr Mallia said the authorities had three choices - leave everything as it was, ban IVF, or enact legislation.

"I do not think the government wants to legislate against IVF. It is obliged to legislate, in the most moral and ethical way, what is already taking place.

"If people start driving too fast in the streets, the government will not ban cars, but regulate speed limits," he said, adding when regulation was lacking, abuse could take place.

Dr Asciak, who took active part in the Social Affairs Committee's eight-month discussion about biotechnology, believed the Vatican's document should encourage legislation - the committee's recommendations should be taken on board by the government.

Meanwhile, Dr Mallia believed the government should not let much more time pass to avoid repeating the extensive exercise carried out by the Social Affairs Committee.

The government had to tap the professional opinion of bioethicists and gather stakeholders - including Cabinet, Opposition members and even the Church - to discuss the issue.

"We cannot have a situation where a law is not enacted simply because the Church does not agree with what is written," he said.

When contacted, Social Policy Minister John Dalli seemed willing to go for regulation, saying the issue had to be carefully analysed.

"This is not something that can be taken lightly," he said, adding that the issue should continue being discussed within the Social Affairs Committee.

He said while it was always worrying to have a vacuum on ethical issues, one could not hurry up delicate matters.

"This country has its values, and although we want to modernise society as much as possible, this does not mean damaging it."