Ottawa, Canada, Apr 4, 2004 / 22:00 pm
A controversial bill, which bans some assisted human reproduction measures and regulates human embryos, was passed by the Canadian Senate without amendment last month, reported the Canadian Catholic News.
It was also passed without a government agency in place to monitor and regulate embryonic research. A government senior policy analyst said such an agency would not be created for another few years.
Over the past decade, Bill C-6, the Assisted Human Reproduction Act, had been introduced and resurrected several times in Parliament. It was finally passed March 11 and became official with the royal assent of Governor General Adrienne Clarkson March 29.
Bill C-6 bans human cloning, sex selection, commercial surrogate motherhood contracts and the sale of sperm and eggs; it also sets out rules on human embryonic stem-cell research.