Charities Commission Registration CC22512

New Year Predictions for 2003

Press Statement - 30 December 2002

1. First Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis prior to an IVF pregnancy, will be granted ethical approval in New Zealand.
2. Victory for English family seeking HLA-matching child for sick son.
3. Susan Devoy to step down as Patron of Cystic Fibrosis Association of NZ.
4. Raelian "cloned baby" exposed as publicity seeking hoax.
5. Significant progress with AgResearch's Transgenic cows programme.
6. Several dozen more lifesaving medicines produced using modern biotechnology.

1. First Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis prior to an IVF pregnancy, will be granted ethical approval in New Zealand.

Ethical approval will be given in 2003 for the first use here of Pre-implantation Genetic Diangosis, combined with IVF procedures, to start the pregnancy of a New Zealand woman. The woman will be at risk of producing a child with an incurable disease and limited survival chances, and the procedure will ensure the baby is not affected by the disease. Among the first group of hopeful parents will be several who have already had one child die in infancy because of an inherited condition.

The chance to avoid the disease through PGD, will be welcomed by the parents as liberating and empowering, and there will be delight that the procedure will now be available in NZ, avoiding the need to use overseas fertility services.

Till now the only other options of controlling such incidence of disease, has been termination of pregnancy after diagnosis at about 10 weeks pregnancy, or avoiding pregnancy altogether. PGD will reduce the stress on the parents and significantly diminish the total weight of ethical issues involved.

2. Victory for English family seeking HLA-matching child for sick son.

The English family wanting to use PGD procedure to ensure their next child is a HLA-matching donor for transplant bone marrow for their seriously ill son, will finally get approval for the procedure this year. An English Court had earlier blocked the planned pregnancy when self-styled ethicists sought a successful injunction against the move. The final approval will reinforce the importance of parents having autonomy over their own reproductive choices, and will be a serious blow to the plans of those who seek to deny reproductive choice to others, based on their own narrow moral judgements.

3. Susan Devoy to step down as Patron of Cystic Fibrosis Association of NZ.

"Did she jump or was she pushed" will be the question on everyone's lips when Susan Devoy steps down as Patron of CFNZ later this year. She is one of NZ's favourite mums, and was a popular choice in District Health Board elections in 2001. But her contradictory stance in opposing Genetic Modification will become untenable with filling the role of Patron in a charitable organisation dedicated to control and cure of Cystic Fibrosis, when Genetic Modification or similar modern biotechnology is the best hope for treatment and cure of CF. She will earn herself a lot of credit if she also rejects her stance on GM. After all, she readily admits she doesn't know much about it.

4. Raelian "cloned baby" exposed as publicity seeking hoax.

The big embarrassment in this item will be the egg on the faces of those who reacted to this late 2002 Christmas holiday period publicity stunt with serious comment, believing it to be even remotely credible. The Raelians will not be bothered at the exposure of their hoax. For whacky alien-worshiping cults, any publicity is good publicity.

People who responded to this as a credible story will probably think the website at genochoice.com is also serious about production of designer babies, and arranging male pregnancies.

5. Significant progress with AgResearch's Transgenic cows programme.

2003 will see significant progress on AgResearch's transgenic cows programme at Ruakura, and their work will feature in at least one prominent scientific journal. Overseas scientists will follow this work with great interest as AgResearch goes to the forefront of technical developments in producing medicine through transgenics. The toughest call of all will be how the Co-Leader of the Green party, Jeanette Fitzsimons, will avoid speaking with a forked tongue as she insists on the one hand the Greens are not opposed to GM in the production of medicines, yet does everything in her power to stop the transgenic cows programme.

6. Several dozen more life-saving medicines produced with modern biotechnology.

Several dozen more life saving medicines will come out of the lab and into clinical trials during 2003, with their common feature being genetic modification, genome knowledge, stem-cell research or cell-cloning techniques, all of which are critical to their development. Hundreds more NZ families, and thousands worldwide, will shift from being victims of severe or fatal diseases, to being in control of them. 2003 will be a good year for progress in medical research, thanks to the Human Genome project and modern biotechnology.