Ardern Shane: Medicines (Specified Biotechnical Procedures)  Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Ardern Shane: Medicines (Specified Biotechnical Procedures)  Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:625;Page:20597] 
SHANE ARDERN (National—Taranaki-King Country) 
: 
 I rise to speak in opposition to the Medicines (Specified Biotechnical Procedures) Amendment Bill for a number of reasons. Firstly I want to make it clear as I did in an earlier debate that xenotransplantation is not a new technology. I have a bit of paper in front of me stating that the first xenotransplant took place in 1682 when a bit of a dog’s skull was used to repair the broken skull of a Russian nobleman. There is a perception around that xenotransplantation is a new technology that has just fallen off the back of a truck and that mad scientists somewhere in New Zealand have come up with this silly idea. In fact the first successful transplant of an organ took place in 1963. So this is not new technology and the science around it is reasonably robust. 
I have heard a lot of arguments against allowing this bill to proceed and I have seen no credible scientific argument to back the bill up. There are always doubts in science and nothing is 100 percent sure. It is certainly not 100 percent certain that there will not be an earthquake tomorrow in which this building falls down and crushes us all. There is no 100 percent certainty about that and there can never be 100 percent certainty in science. We found that out recently in the “corngate” inquiry when contaminated corn was tested for zero tolerance. There can never be 100 percent certainty. 
But at least a hundred examples have been put forward as to why this moratorium on xenotransplantation should not be extended. I think the argument that carries the most weight is that in regard to the work Dr Bob Elliot has done on diabetes which is a major medical problem in this country. I know that the Associate Minister of Health the Hon Damien O’Connor who is in the chair understands that diabetes is a major growing problem particularly in the lower socio-economic group—the group this Government purports to represent. We now have the science to address that problem. This technology could be described as xenotransplantation because—as I understand from a brief explanation by my honourable learned colleague Dr Paul Hutchison—it uses pig islets to reproduce insulin in a person’s body. 
This Luddite socialist Government is saying to people that they cannot undergo that procedure under its watch. I just ask why. It is typical of the Luddite approach of the Government to have a select committee process in which the chair says that the committee will not allow scientists with expertise in the area to appear before the committee in order to give it some advice. The Government never wants to let the facts get in the way of its bigotry. It wants to stop the scientists from proceeding those mad loons out there in their white jackets—who I hasten to add have built the economy of New Zealand. This economy has been built on those people. 
Moana Mackey 
: I thought the farmers did that. 
Hon Parekura Horomia 
: You’re a farmer! 
SHANE ARDERN 
: That is interesting. Government members interject that the farmers built the economy and that I am a farmer. I tell them that the technology that has been developed in agriculture through scientific experiments is the reason why we are the most efficient agricultural producers in the world. The Minister interjecting should know that but clearly he does not. If people put their heads far enough into the sand it is dark and they cannot see anything. This is a classic example. So why should Parliament today stop these scientists? 
Talking of farmers I have in my electorate a leader in farming who desperately needs a kidney transplant and cannot find a suitable donor. He has told me that he would be more than happy to have a pig kidney transplant because his condition now is such that he has no quality of life and his illness is life-threatening. He does not know how long he has left. He has told me that rather than live the life he is living and continue to go through the uncertainty he would welcome the opportunity to have a xenotransplantation provided the medical science was robust—and it is.