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Petition update, 20 August 2008

More details from petition creator

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill (HFEB) is due to pass through the House of Commons soon.

The media has said that Clause 14(4)(9) of the Bill would allow people to create "designer deaf or disabled babies", but it would not. It would let people create designer HEARING babies.

This is because if a couple who are going through IVF have a test to see whether their embryos are deaf or hearing, if there is a mixture of deaf and hearing embryos, Clause 14(4)(9) would FORCE them to reject the deaf embryos.

This is clearly a form of EUGENICS. Forcing parents to reject some embryos over others has no place in a democratic society.

Clause 14(4)(9) creates a situation whereby, in law, the life of a Deaf person becomes of lesser worth than that of a hearing person, despite the Government's aim for a more equal society, through the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights.

We the undersigned therefore call on the Houses of Parliament to fully drop Clause 14(4)(9) of the HFEB.

Current signatories

Philippa Merricks, the Petition Creator, joined by:

• Alison Bryan
• Arthur Bryan
• Ann Bryan
• Bob Duncan
• sylvia simmonds
• olive and ken simmonds
• jo gardiner
• Karen Page
• Simon Page
• Sarah Hirons
• Joseph Gwynne-Jones
• Donna Williams
• Dafydd Eveleigh
• Tony Barlow
• Tony Sutton
• Ray Deasy
• David R Kettle
• Samantha Kent
• Ramon Woolfe
• Rita R Kettle
• Louise Fitzgerald
• Gordon Hay
• Caroline Parker
• Troi Lee
• Christine Jones
• robyn harris
• Susan Birkin
• Rachel England
• teresa stibbon
• Brendan Casey
• Emily Wright
• rodney dawson
• Stephen Dering
• Paul Hillbeck
• Sarah Guy
• Jackie Plant
• Stuart Parkinson
• Richard Carter
• Penelope Beschizza
• Edward J Richards
• John Walker
• Helen Robins
• Tim Allen
• Richard Collins
• Marian Butcher
• karthik vijayanandam
• Kylie Devlin
• Gill Behenna
• Andrew Niklaus
• Sandra NIKLAUS
• Christopher John Hart
• Patricia Rafique
• Jonathan Williams
• Stephen Craney
• Kim Ribbons
• Fanny Limousin
• Katrina Gwynne-Jones
• Rosaline Irmal
• Rachael Hayes
• Charles Dixon
• Hilary Evans
• Judith Collins
• Revd Vera Hunt
• Ann Wells
• Gary Quinn
• Ian Glover
• Sue Murphy
• Robert Eveleigh
• Graham Turner
• Nita March
• Iain Sutherland
• Andrew W Scolding
• Natasha Hirst
• Derek I. Barkes
• Katherine Rogers
• Barry Avison
• Michael Sadler
• Adam Schembri
• jules dickinson
• Ramas Rentelis
• Liz Scott Gibson
• charlotte moulton-thomas
• Jennifer Denning
• lisa pound-clarke
• Brigitte Francois
• Linda Zack
• DonnA Lewin
• Philomen Probert
• Deepa Shastri
• Antony Rabin
• Paul Hollingdrake
• Clare Chilton
• Jackie Erskine
• michelle smyth
• Conor Fox
• Alisoun Probert
• Robin Thompson
• Raymond Lee
• Lesley Lee
• patty chukwuoha
• Rebekah Fitzgerad
• Fintan Gaughan
• Granville Tate
• Inderjit Johal
• Betty Trujillo
• Amelia Merricks
• Neil Fox
• Tim Blackwell
• George McGowan
• Justine Durno
• Helen Hart
• DAVID JAMES JOHNSTON
• Simon Herdman
• James Edge
• Jason Vessey
• Elvire Roberts
• David Clarke
• mary claire mccrudden
• Aneurin Barker Snook
• Dr Steven Emery
• David Brien
• Melissa Mostyn
• Gavin Lilley
• Colin Morris
• Laura Goldberg
• Caroline March
• Jason Davies
• Ailsa McGILP
• Pauline Roberts
• di phaisey
• Elizabeth Adam
• Kim Payne
• Eva Price
• Annelies Kusters
• Gloria Pullen
• debbie roots
• Neil Latimer
• Kate Wharton
• Julia Acott
• A Murray
• Josephine Elms
• colin singh
• Tony Nicholas
• Mr Partis (petitions.pm.gov.uk/NHS-dentists4all/)
• Tom Mould
• Liz Jones
• Michael John Poultney
• John A Hay FRSA
• Dave Hollings
• jo sell
• Ann Knox
• Lesley Reeves Costi
• Kaz Langlands
• Mike Gulliver
• Claire Moore-Kibbey
• Keith Wilson
• Darren Pritchard
• Louise Gill
• Susanne Hjorth-Hansen
• Robbie Gillies
• Karen Oliver
• alison lamothe
• Rowan Pring
• David Hutchinson
• Laurence Banks
• andrew farrer (FAZ)
• Holly Lane
• Alan McElevey
• Stella Fordham
• Irene Constable
• Wendy Klein
• Frank J Harrington
• Debra Snodgrass
• Anna-Louise Trethewey
• Jim Kyle
• Brendan McElevey
• Alys Young
• Sarah Coy
• Michael Wilson
• silvana lennon
• Paul Hann
• Robert ADAM
• Roxana Curtis
• Jade Mumuney
• Jeremy Borland
• Thelma V Lewis
• John Delve
• Jean Delve
• Evelyn Davenport
• Sue Banks
• anthony short
• Hazel Rutherford
• Jonathan Bosman
• Nicki Stevenson
• Betty Bosman
• andrea p hill
• maria gibson
• Jemina Napier
• Emily Sharpe
• John Savva
• Matt Nichol
• Marie Curragh
• Sandra Duguid
• Cheryl Mechan
• judith mitchell
• Samantha Jane Ward
• Mira Goldberg
• Simone Goldberg
• annette jennings
• RUTH CALVERT
• Jeff McWhinney
• Gill Brooks
• Sam Calder
• Michelle Rees-Jones
• Samia Ahmed
• Tom Bryce
• C BATLEY
• Cathryn McShane
• Shirley Jones
• Orlando Popadopalos
• Annie Weir
• Thomas McNeil
• Dorothy Dickson
• Stephen J Hay
• Evelyn Reid
• Aran Slade
• Agnes Fisher
• Kirsty Heaton
• Lynsey Baxter
• Helen thomas
• Michael Light
• Helen Cuthbertson
• Victoria Sellen
• Hannah Lewis-Jones
• Anne Jackson
• Josephine Shanks
• Derek Wilson
• Natasha cross
• Meachelle Williams
• Steven Gould
• Jacqueline McGuire
• Ben Fletcher
• George Baird
• Janice
• Gemma Smith
• jim weir
• Bruce Gresham
• Amanda Pritchard
• Lauren Maley
• David Geddes
• Iain Shanks
• Danny Harding
• Dawn Marshall
• Louise Holden
• Callum Brown
• Simon Pawelski
• David Sands
• Kenneth Nuttall
• Vicky Cheung
• Elaine Tannock
• karen turnbull
• James Morris
• Natalie Byrne
• Maureen Laing
• katie hooker
• Josephine Elizabeth Shanks
• Kirsty Duff
• Lesley Duff
• Joanne Mills
• joan jamieson
• nikki james
• Jane King
• Beverly Willis
• Dr. Linda Robertson
• R. Jones
• Avril Anderson
• Diane Blackwell
• LEO GLANCY
• e smith
• Janet Nuttall
• Davina Merricks
• Craig Murphy
• Isobel Austin
• Catherine Harkness
• Iain Walker
• Hannah Blackwell
• sasha mcsean
• Diana Prideaux
• Nicola Mallaghan
• Alison Stephenson
• Abigail HIester
• Breish Rowe
• Sarah Haynes
• Kevin Hartley
• Jennifer Dodds
• Claire Haddon
• Rebecca Blackwell
• Chris Beech
• Megan Alexander
• Andrew Alexander
• Natalie Allen
• Charlotte Powell
• Elaine Allison
• Josh Page
• Jamie Lena Martin
• Mark Guerrieria
• michael fisher
• Jennifer Miller
• Moira Barrie
• RUTH HAWES
• Ruth Beer
• Donna West
• yvonne philip
• Lizzie Wharton
• Alex Osler
• Elizabeth-Anne Clarke
• Linda Staines
• Lauren Farrell
• Rob Wilks
• Rosena Louise Preston
• James Cameron-Morris
• stephanie taylor
• HEATHER BARBARA MAY LEWIS
• tom clayton
• Emma Lyddon
• agree to
• agree to
• i agree
• Rachael Burgess
• Louise Cox
• Seon Anderson
• Natalie Chetwyn
• Faye Seaton
• Jacqui Harvey
• Nathan Read
• Joseph Mackell
• Tom Kent
• james jenkins
• B Balch
• Victoria Goodacre
• Clare Sparks
• adam carl breeze
• Ryan Marshall
• Kara Stevens
• Andrew Avery
• vikki pound
• matt everett
• Elin Willams
• Jessica Shepherd
• HAMZA KHAN
• Carly Wiggins
• jack smallwood
• Cory Labrosse
• Demi Bradshaw
• robert hanlon
• Glen Tamayo
• Conor Toseland
• ashleigh simpson
• Simon Gaunt
• James Cowdrill
• deaf
• Tracie
• matthew
• Iona Helena Edward
• Helen Wightman
• Alan F.
• Katrin Rae
• E Alway
• Fiona Addison
• David Addison
• Jenny Wager
• Gary uick