The Labour Party today called on the Government to ban human cloning and introduce new laws governing genetic research.
Scientists, led by the controversial Italian embryologist Dr Severino Antinori, said at an international conference in Washington yesterday they planned to begin cloning humans in an effort to help childless couples become biological parents.
The announcement sparked a huge debate over the ethical implications of such experiments.
Dr Mary Upton TD, the Labour Party’s spokeswoman on Consumer Affairs, said there was a need for a complete ban on human cloning, even for research.
"There is also a need for a full debate on the implications and use of the human genome and cloning," Dr Upton said.
She said Ireland was trailing behind other countries in terms of regulation in the field of genetic research, and that there is nothing within Irish legislation here to prevent scientists from conducting the controversial work here.
"Ireland cannot continue to bury its head in the sand and pretend that it will not be affected by the implications of scientific developments which have drastic and far reaching implications for humans," she said.
The Labour deputy said the Government must take steps to ensure genetic research "does not lead to negative discrimination against people who are predisposed to certain diseases."