LifeZine No. 800: 26th Jul 10
Senator Queries Cost of Civil Partnerships
A senator who opposed the Civil Partnership Bill has sought information on what the implementation of its provisions will cost. Some estimates have put the cost at €73 million annually in three to five years time. Senator John Hanafin (FF) called on the Minister for Justice to provide a schedule showing the cost, pointing out that it was unusual that this had not been done during the debate on the Bill. Given that there had been an indication in the Dáil that it would cost €1 million per thousand couples, he wanted to know if it was the case that the minimum cost would be €73 million per annum in the near future? Senator Rónán Mullen (Ind) said it used to be the proud claim of the Leader of the House that debate on the details of legislation was never guillotined. Last week, he noted, for political as opposed to exceptional reasons, that good practice had been jettisoned on a fairly flimsy pretext in the civil partnership debate. He wondered why the Green Party senators had known of the foreshortening of the debate before other senators. Senator Mullen said the issue should be thrashed out in the House. He had tabled a motion aimed at achieving this. The Irish Times. July 14.
End of life, Quality of Death
A reader has criticised The Irish Times for the use of the phrase “end-of-life.” In a letter to the editor, Joseph Foyle complained that the paper’s editorial (July 19th) uses the phrase “end-of-life” many times. That follows the usual practice of hospice services. After a nationwide “Forum on End of Life” consultation launched by President Mary McAleese in March 2009, the Irish Hospice Foundation recently formed a National Council of the Forum on End of Life in Ireland, chaired by former Supreme Court Justice Catherine McGuinness. Foyle argues that, to avoid ambiguity, the word “Earth” should be inserted before “Life.” “End of Life,” according to Foyle suggests that, “as Secularists believe, death ends life—that, as a prominent Irish youth mental health psychologist said, “This life is the one we have. This is it.”” “End of Earth Life,” on the other hand, “would accommodate both those who so believe and those—probably at least 95 per cent of Irish people—who believe that death begins the Hereafter life stage that dying people may do things to optimise. This isn’t merely a matter of semantics, nor does it doubt the wonderful work done by hospice staffs. It is mainly a matter of removing ambiguity to make palliative care—for which, it is generally agreed, there is great need—thinking, and service all-inclusive.” For Foyle, “Dying is a radically different experience if one believes it is a prelude to a beginning as well as an ending.” The Irish Times. July 20.
UK Government Divided over Support for Marriage
The married couples’ tax allowance continues to divide the parties of the UK’s coalition government, according to the Children and Families minister, Sarah Teather (Liberal Democrat), who said she had “no idea” when the policy could be introduced. She said surprisingly few points of discord remained between the Conservative and Liberal Democrat members of the coalition other than Prime Minister David Cameron’s flagship proposal to reward marriage in the tax system. The proposal is mentioned only fleetingly in the coalition programme, which specifies that the Liberal Democrats have been granted the right to abstain on any future budget resolutions to introduce transferable tax allowances “without prejudice to the coalition agreement.” The Conservatives said before the election that the proposal was meant to be symbolic, and was designed to send out a message that marriage was supported by the tax system. Samantha Callan, the acting chair of the Centre for Social Justice, the think-tank set up by Iain Duncan Smith, said she understood the government’s immediate focus would be to try to address an apparent “couple penalty” in the tax system before concentrating on introducing the married couples tax allowance, which she suggested may be held over as a policy for the next parliament. The Guardian. July 13.
Oxford Team to Use iPS Cells to Study Parkinsons
UK researchers are launching a study into the potential of using a patient’s own cells to treat Parkinson’s disease. An Oxford University team will use induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells—which have the ability to become any cell in the human body—to examine the neurological condition. Skin cells will be used to grow the brain neurons that die in Parkinson’s. The research will not involve the destruction of human embryos. IPS cells were developed in 2007. At the time, scientists said the discovery had the potential to offer many of the advantages of embryonic stem cells without any of the ethical downsides. Three years on, it seems to be living up to that claim. The team at Oxford University is among the first in the world to use iPS to carry out a large-scale clinical investigation of Parkinson’s, which is currently poorly understood. The research is being funded by Parkinson’s UK. The charity’s director of research, Kieran Breen, described it as “vital research that will help us better understand the causes of this devastating condition and how it develops and progresses. We hope the work will pave the way for new and better treatments for people with Parkinson’s in the future.” About 120,000 people in the UK are living with Parkinson’s. BBC. July 13.
Spanish Opposition to Pro-Abortion Law Remains Steadfast
Spain’s new abortion law—probably the most liberal legislation of its type in Europe—is now in operation. The problem for the socialist government in Madrid, however, is that many of the regions of the country are ruled by the opposition centre-right Partido Popular. The PP has been closely aligned with the Catholic Church in its fierce opposition to the new legislation. Whilst it will not flout the law of the land it has made it clear that the clause allowing medical staff to refuse to carry out abortions on conscientious grounds will be backed to the hilt, in effect stopping abortions. Nowhere is this policy being followed more determinedly than in the region that includes the nation’s capital, Madrid. Its minister of health, Javier Fernández-Lasquetty, has stated that the majority of medical professionals would not be willing to carry out abortions except in exceptional circumstances, such as where the mother’s life was at risk. UK LifeLeague. July 15.
“Emergency Contraception” Drug Ella “Misleads Women”
The manufacturer of the “emergency contraceptive” drug Ella, which can be taken up to five days after intercourse to prevent a pregnancy, has been accused in front of the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of “misleading women by mislabelling it to avoid mentioning that it can cause an abortion.” Women and health providers will be enticed by the claim that it can prevent a pregnancy, unaware that it also can abort an already conceived embryo. The drug sponsor touts Ella’s ability to delay ovulation, but Dr. Jeffrey Bay, an FDA pharmacologist, has admitted that Ella can also prevent embryos from implanting in the uterus. Ella impacts embryos both before and after implantation by interfering with the hormone needed to line the uterus to support an embryo. An FDA advisory panel recently approved Ella as an “emergency contraceptive.” However, the drug contains virtually the same chemicals as the abortion drug RU-486 and acts the same way. By blocking progesterone receptors, it starves the baby to death. Despite this, the FDA panel voted unanimously not to inform women that Ella might do more than prevent ovulation. Indeed, it went even further by discouraging studies to determine if Ella can cause birth defects in babies who survive. UK LifeLeague. July 15.