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UK: Human Tissue Bill Fears over human tissue bill Apr 26 2004 A redrafted version of the Human Tissue Bill would still block vital research if it became law, one of Britain's most eminent scientists has warned. Lord May of Oxford, president of the Royal Society, accused the Government of continuing to ignore the concerns of the scientific community. The Human Tissue Bill is intended to prevent a repeat of the scandals at Bristol Royal Infirmary and Alder Hey Hospital, Liverpool, where children's organs were retained for research without their parents' consent. But many doctors, scientists and people working in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry believe it goes too far and could stifle research. As a result of the criticism, the Bill was amended and a new version is soon to be presented to the House of Lords. But Lord May, one of the Government's former chief scientific advisers, says the changes made are inadequate. The degree to which consent is needed for every use of a tissue sample is still excessive, he argues. In a strongly worded letter to the health minister responsible for the Bill, Rosie Winterton, Lord May said: "It's like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. No distinction is made between tissue samples taken during routine diagnostic tests at one end of the scale and the removal of organs during post-mortem at the other. "The prohibitive amount of bureaucracy that could be generated by the need to obtain consent for individual tissue samples would impact on teaching and lead to reduced levels of vital research into understanding diseases such as cancer, heart disease, Parkinson's and variant CJD." Lord May said the Bill also presented obstacles to the use of existing collections of stored tissues. SOURCE: ic Kent, UK http://tinyurl.com/2qbcz * * * UK: Organ Donation Plans To Be Revised April 23, 2004 Ministers are ready to redraft several sections of the Human Tissue Bill again this week following further heavy criticisms from scientists. The Royal Society wrote to health minister Rosie Winterton on Monday warning that the bill as it stands would prevent crucial research being performed. The Department of Health confirmed the criticisms would be taken on board before the legislation receives its third reading in the Commons next month. "We have been talking to the medical and scientific community," a spokeswoman said. "We are aware of their concerns and are looking at ways of addressing them." The already redrafted bill has been designed to ensure that organ donations are more strictly governed by rules of consent in response to scandals such as that at the Alder Hey hospital. But the Royal Society and other groups warned that the legislation goes too far and would stifle vital medical experiments. Expectations Society president Lord May of Oxford said amendments to the bill did not meet the expectations of leading researchers who had recommended relaxing the consent rules on blood and urine samples and cancer biopsies from living patients among other measures. "It's like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut," he said. "No distinction is made between tissue samples taken during routine diagnostic tests at one end of the scale and the removal of organs during post-mortem at the other. "The prohibitive amount of bureaucracy that could be generated by the need to obtain consent for individual tissue samples would impact on teaching and lead to reduced levels of vital research into understanding diseases such as cancer, heart disease, Parkinson's and variant CJD." Amendments are now expected to include a move towards "presumed consent" for living patients, who would have to opt-out of donations rather than opt-in, while tough regulations on removing organs from the deceased would remain. The Association of Medical Research Charities said it was confident the changes would be made. "I would be incredibly disappointed and surprised now if the bill presented for report stage does not address some of our concerns," chief executive Diana Garnham said. "We have worked hard to explain the difficulties to the government and they have assured us that they are listening." SOURCE: ePolitix, UK http://tinyurl.com/3b44f * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn