§ Mr. Hugh Dykes (Harrow, East)I beg to ask leave to present a petition on behalf of my constituents. It includes 878 signatures and those of the entire congregation of Stanmore Baptist church and concerns the protection of human embryos. It would not be right for me to go into the arguments today, not least because the matter is being debated in Committee and many other such petitions from all over the Kingdom have been presented. I hope that the House will take full cognisance of the arguments.
The petition continues:
Wherefore your petitioners pray that the House of Commons will take immediate steps to enact legislation which forbids any procedure that involves purchase or sale of human embryos, the discarding of human embryos, their use as sources of transplant tissue or as subjects for research or experiment (unless this is done solely for the benefit of the embryo concerned).And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray etc.To lie upon the Table.