Experiment funding is business-driven

MANY people will applaud the PDs for their support of competition in the marketplace.

However, competition has taken on a somewhat different meaning with Tánaiste Mary Harney’s apparent support for EU funding for experiments on embryos. The proposals, soon to be voted on at the EU council of ministers, encourage the development of a market for human biological material.

The measures are being opposed by several countries, including Germany, which for historical reasons is unwilling to go down that road again.

Nevertheless, such comparisons do not seem to bother Ms Harney or, one assumes, Fianna Fáil, who are intent on committing Irish taxpayers’ money to funding these abhorrent activities.

If Ireland opposed the proposals, the measure would fall as, together with other opponents, there would be a block strong enough to see it off.

The fact that this vote comes at a time when several proposals are before the UN to ban such experimentation must be seen as a cynical attempt by the business-driven EU commission to proceed irrespective of the popular view.

Mairtin Ó Maolruaidh,

Polkeen,

Tuam Road,

Galway.