CONTROVERSIAL plans to relax the laws on fertility and embryology are "turning society on it's head", according to Middleton MP Jim Dobbin.
The Labour MP and staunch Roman Catholic has refused to rule out voting against the government's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill - despite Gordon Brown giving MPs a free vote on its three most contentious proposals.
Commenting on the Prime Minister's announcement, he said: "I am cautiously welcoming it but I am in the process of examining the small print.
"We are in the process of drafting amendments and it depends what happens at committee stage to those amendments which will influence how I vote.
Mr Dobbin, chairman of an all-party anti-abortion group, vowed he would not support any area of embryo research and was also against the idea of so-called 'saviour siblings' where a child could be created with the correct tissue match to save a sick brother or sister.
Mr Dobbin also slammed proposals to downgrade the importance of a father in the life of a child born through IVF treatment as "turning society on its head".
He said: "My view is scientists being scientists always want to go further and I think once we open the door we do not know where we are going to end up.
"They are actually tampering with the trail of human life and that is not ethical. There are scientists in Japan and America who instead of using embryos have used adult stem cells, which is acceptable to people like me.
"There are 70 or 80 successes using adult stem cells and not one recorded success for embryonic research.
Scientists believe embryo research may provide the key to a breakthrough for debilitating conditions such as Parkinson's and motor neurone disease.
Mr Dobbin said: "Two of my grandsons were born with a congenital neuromuscular, life threatening physical disability and I am diabetic. I have great empathy with all of those charities and for people with disabilities including Parkinson’s. Motor Neurone Disease, Muscular Dystrophy, Multiple Sclerosis, Diabetes, Alzheimers and many others.
"I support these charities and attend their meetings whenever I can. My belief is that ethics and good science go hand in hand and many of the scientists who are pursuing the embryonic stem cell research have completely ignored the ethical questions.
He said: "I think they're not looking at all the research or looking at the science. "It is an emotive response that's coming forward. All the successes are not in the areas that the Government are pushing for.
But Dr Daniel Brison, Scientific Director of the Regional IVF Unit at St Mary's Hospital in Manchester, said: "Adult stem cells are very different from embryos and they can only be used to cure certain diseases.
"We will probably need both adult and embryo derived stem cells and there is certainly no case at the moment that embryo derived stem cells are not required. There is already evidence that stem cells derived from animals can cure diseases but the research for stem cells derived from human embryos is nowhere near as far advanced. One of the reasons that progress has been slow is because scientists are unwilling to proceed without public support.
Dr Brison, who is also co-director of the North West Embryonic Stem Cell Centre which is working to find cures for diseases such as diabetes and arthritis, said his work did not involve the so-called human-animal hybrid embryos but he said: "Most stem cell research does not involve that technique but if you want to take stem cells from an embryo at the moment the only way of doing that is by taking a human egg.
"Many women do not like to donate their eggs and scientists feel it is preferable to use animal eggs rather than using human eggs.
Jim Dobbin MP is a former microbiologist at the Royal Oldham Hospital
