COLF Responds to Health Canada’s Consultation on Reproductive and Genetic Technologies

Thursday, March 23 2000

(Ottawa — CCCB) The Catholic Organization for Life and Family (COLF) has told Health Canada that respect for the human person must be the basis for any regulation to be adopted by the Government of Canada in the area of new reproductive and genetic technologies.

This is one of many recommendations made by COLF in a brief to Health Canada as part of that ministry’s public consultation on new reproductive and genetic technologies.

The COLF brief was the result of a consultation with scientists, lawyers, educators, theologians and experts in ethics that studied the many questions raised in Health Canada’s working document on the matter. It was the unanimous opinion of these experts that “the stakes in this area of scientific development are so high and the speed of changes so rapid that a well crafted set of prohibitions and regulations is indispensable.”

In its response to Health Canada, COLF outlines its position on the proposed prohibitions and regulations and also uses the occasion to underline the fundamental ethical values that should guide the legislators in their discussions. In addition to respect for the human person, COLF says the regulations must also take into account respect for human life from conception onwards, promotion of human health and safety, protecting the interests and well-being of children, as well as giving particular concern to the burdens borne by women in the area of human reproduction.

The brief to Health Canada may be viewed on the COLF website at: http://colf.cccb.ca/.

The Catholic Organization for Life and Family was jointly founded by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Knights of Columbus to promote respect for human life and dignity and the essential role of the family.