§ Sir Dudley Smith (Warwick and Leamington)I beg to ask leave to present a petition from the Leamington life group. It contains 2,000 signatures of residents of Warwick and Leamington district. The petition calls for legislation that will forbid all practices that offend against the dignity and right to life of human embryos produced in vitro, such as buying and selling them, discarding them and using them as sources of tissue for transplant or subjects for research or experiment, unless this is done solely for the benefit of the human beings concerned. The petition has been occasioned by the Government's request for public response to the recommendations of the Warnock committee, whose report was published in July. It has my full support. I shall not weary the House with a full reading of what the petition says, but, like a number of similar petitions presented by hon. Members, it says:
Wherefore your petitioners pray that the House of Commons will take immediate steps to enact legislation and ends:And your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray etc.
§ To lie upon the Table.