Through the years, the medical society has discovered numerous ways of making life better, safer and longer through technologies that, in one way or another, confront society's conventional belief on birth and death. In the Philippines, even the use of condom and birth control, other than abstinence and calendar method is widely opposed by the Church and is blamed for the continuous population boom in the country. But in other parts of the world, a medical process aimed at protecting the life of the unborn was equally criticized and brought quite a political crisis.
This medical controversy once again challenged the moral and ethical standards of the Dutch government as it did years ago during the legalization of euthanasia, prostitution and drugs, as the debate on the extension of diseases qualified for pre-implantation genetic diagnostics (PGD) escalates.
The issue has caused a stir in the political scene in the Dutch Parliament after State Secretary for Health, Welfare and Sports Mariëtte Jet Bussemaker said that the Dutch government supports the extension of the list of diseases where patients can request for embryonic selection, to breast cancer and cancer of the intestines. Reports quoted her saying she wanted to give women a chance to prevent passing on a hereditary form of breast cancer to their daughters.
Bussemaker later recalled her statement due to pressure from the minority party Christian Union. Christian Union frowns at the procedure, citing that the chance of destroying the defective embryo, which they regard as human life, is very high.
'This is a matter of principle. It is up to the cabinet to determine those conditions,” MP Henk Jan Ormel told ANP News agency. Meanwhile, Labour, the second biggest party in the Netherlands expressed favor on the matter.
Saving the Unborn
PGD is a genetic process wherein one or two cells from an embryo of eight cells produced by in vitro fertilization (fertilization outside the mother's womb) and selective transfer of genetically normal embryos. Dr. Allan Handyside and Professor Lord Robert Winston at Hammersmith Hospital, London, developed PGD, also called embryonic selection, in the 1980's and the first PGD babies were born in 1990. Several countries are already using embryonic selection like Japan, United States, most parts of Europe and Asia. Embryonic selection has accounted to 200 births worldwide but only allowed through specific guidelines.
In the Netherlands, only the Academic Hospital Maastricht (AZM) is allowed to do PGD on selective genetic diseases including cystic fibrosis, sex-linked diseases, chromosomal abnormalities, fragile X syndrome, spinal muscular atrophy and myotonic dystrophy. The said diseases pose a 100% certainty of being transferred to the child of the carrier. With IVF and PGD, only healthy embryos are implanted to the mother's womb, totally eliminating the risk of passing the said disease.
Recently though, AZM and other Dutch hospitals reveal plans of using PGD to diseases other than allowed, including breast cancer and cancer of the intestines, which has about 80% chance of being inherited. Under the Dutch law, this is not permissible although hospitals are allowed to make its own medical judgment.
Amidst the controversy, AZM announced that it will proceed with the embryonic selection and has already five patients in line for the process.
"We cannot promise our patients to help them on Monday and call them back on Thursday, saying that the government has changed its mind," Joep Geraedts, head of the clinical genetics department said. "That would be neither humane nor ethical." Other hospitals also want to follow suit.
Medical Ethics vs. Moral Beliefs
In 2006, former State Health Secretary Clemence Ross ruled out that PGD can only be allowed with diseases of 100% assurance, forcing AZM to put the implementation on hold.
Meanwhile, the strictly religious and staunch advocates of morality in Netherlands, who are also behind the campaign for the removal of coffee shops (marijuana shops) and the red light districts from the cities, have widely denounced AZM's decision.
Labour Party's Vice Prime Minister Wouter Bos, meanwhile said that PGD is matter of principle for Labour no less than it is for the Christian Union.
Another party, Christian Democrats has not fully dismissed the possibility of extending embryo selection, but argued for specific guidelines issued by the government.
The medical societies have also reacted to the issue. TheKoninklijke Nederlandsche Maatschappij tot bevordering der Geneeskunst (KNMG) or Royal Dutch Medical Association is worried about the apparently slow decision making of the government and said that patients should not be harmed due to this reason. KNMG added that the issue of PGD is not a political matter and should be decided by doctors and medical -ethical committees alone.
The Dutch Parliament is expected to come out with a decision before the summer recess.
As the country is awaiting verdict on a medical breakthrough that is yet again, expected to change the medical landscape of the Netherlands, the debate over the extent of science to decide on a life given by God will still remain unresolved. (with reports from www.expatica.nl)
