Premiers' positions on stem cell research

The Australian newspaper has reported, for the first time, what the premiers' positions on stem cell research are as follows:

Steve Bracks (Victoria): "There needs to be clarity surrounding the law and I believe this important research, with safeguards, needs to go ahead. If there is national agreement by the commonwealth and state governments on this research, as I hope there will be, of course it will be subject to stringent safeguards. I am opposed to embryos being created solely for the purposes of research and will ensure this is enshrined in any legislation."

"But if there is no national agreement, we will go to the Victorian parliament with legislation that will allow stem-cell research."

Bob Carr (NSW): "If the federal government is unwilling to create a national environment where this work can happen, then I will take the necessary legislative steps to ensure it can take place in NSW. I am not going to see laboratories closed I am not going to see our best medical researchers driven out of this state by a short-sighted federal position on this work."

Peter Beattie (Queensland): "My government has already announced support for stem-cell research on cells taken from adult brains and bone marrow."

"Importantly, we do not support the creation of embryos specifically for medical research and treatment, or the cloning of humans. We do not believe it is right to extract stem cells from embryos deliberately created for this purpose. In-vitro fertilisation produces excess embryos that are not implanted or donated."

"I believe that in certain strictly controlled circumstances, and with close regulatory oversight, stem cells could be taken from those excess embryos that would otherwise be allowed to die. Not one extra embryo would die as a result of this, but many children and adults might live as a result of successful research."

Jim Bacon (Tasmania): "I will support a nationally consistent ban on human cloning."

"We will be happy for the commonwealth to introduce legislation to this effect, and we will then introduce legislation in Tasmania consistent with that. I will also support recommendations that research with existing stem cell lines would be permitted to continue in Australia. This also includes the support of research being undertaken that involves the destruction of excess IVF embryos."

"It is important to understand that such research would be subject to strict conditions imposed by the Australian Health Ethics Committee, and published by the National Health and Medical Research Council."

Geoff Gallop (Western Australia): "The Western Australian government has agreed in principle to support a nationally consistent approach to human embryo research that would permit the use of spare IVF embryos for the derivation of stem cells in strictly limited circumstances."

"The Western Australian Government considered that potential therapeutic benefits of stem cells were such that embryo research should not be prohibited where it could lead to significant advances in knowledge and the treatment of life-threatening medical conditions."

Mike Rann (South Australia): "It is my belief that any research in Australia using embryonic stem cells should be conducted under strict conditions developed by the Australian Health Ethics Committee after thorough consultation with ethicists, scientists, church leaders and the community."

These conditions require that there must be a likelihood of significant advance in knowledge in saving lives as a result of the proposed research that cannot be achieved through other means. Embryos involved would only be those surplus to the needs of couples and families who have used the IVF program, and which would have been destroyed under present IVF arrangements. They could only be used with the permission of the families."

I am totally opposed to the production of embryos specifically for research purposes and I am totally opposed to any form of human cloning."