Coleman Jonathan: Human Tissue Bill — In Committee 
Coleman Jonathan: Human Tissue Bill — In Committee 
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Dr JONATHAN COLEMAN (National—Northcote) 
: 
 Just following on from what my colleague Jo Goodhew said about this bill I think really there were two main points from the National Party’s point of view. The first one was that this bill would have been a great opportunity to introduce a voluntary opt-on donor register. We made that point very strongly in our minority report. 
We were hearing this bill at the same time as were hearing Dr Jackie Blue’s member’s bill. It is a real shame that that bill was not able to be incorporated as part of this bill. 
I think that it was pretty well established and that all parties would agree that there is a very real need to increase the donation rate in New Zealand. We had only 26 people coming forward to donate organs last year. When we are looking at a situation whereby we are facing increasing rates of end-stage diseases like diabetes or end-stage liver failure when the only hope for people is to receive a donor organ it is quite clear that something has to be done about it. 
It is also notable that two previous select committees had recommended the establishment of a voluntary opt-on donor register. Indeed Labour Party policy at the last election was that it was going to institute such a register. It is a real shame that that opportunity has been missed. Nevertheless I think it is something that will come up again and again and that Parliament will have opportunities in the future to make decisions on it. 
The second issue that National really felt strongly about which we expressed in our minority report is the issue of the primacy of informed consent. As I think anyone could see from reading this bill and from hearing some of the debate it is an extremely technical bill. Intellectually I think it is probably the most challenging bill we have had before the Health Committee this year. But when we looked at it we could see that one of the key things it was talking about was the issue of informed consent. 
The National Party feels very strongly that it is important that people have the right to determine what happens to their tissue after they pass on. Issues were raised about the cultural context of informed consent and we certainly had some lengthy debate on that. I hope we are going to hear about that issue from the Maori Party at some stage during this debate because its members certainly had a different perspective from that held by my colleagues in the National Party. 
But at the end of the day I do not think we will get anywhere very fast or come to any substantial destination on this whole issue of human tissue donation and on the rights of people to determine what happens to their body parts and body tissue unless we hold that concept of the primacy of informed consent at the very heart of the debate. 
Those two points really explain the minority report that National has submitted: that we wanted to see the voluntary opt-on donor register and that we are very concerned that in all the technical jargon the concept of informed consent is not lost in the process. 
As Jo Goodhew was saying this Human Tissue Bill—the Government bill—replaces the Human Tissue Act 1964. It tidies up some areas of the legislation that need to be updated to take into account some of the technological developments that have happened in the 40 years since the original bill came into being. 
One issue that really concerned some of the universities that came before us was the provision in the bill where it talks about regulating the sale and trade of human tissue. It has to be noted that the ability of universities to conduct research and remain world-class institutions is an issue that was brought to our attention. It figured quite heavily in our deliberation and in our thinking because although no one wants to see the sale and trade of human organs and body parts in an unregulated commercial market and although no one would want to see the unregulated import of human tissue and body parts into New Zealand academic institutions have to be able to import slides and specimens for the purposes of research and academic debate. So we have to be practical when looking at these issues of human tissue human tissue handling and the ability for body parts and indeed tissue to be used for the purposes of research let alone when looking at the whole issue of donation. 
The real impetus for this bill has been the shortage of donor organs in New Zealand. It is not something that will be easily remedied but as I say in terms of National’s minority report it is something that we would be really keen to see. Thank you.