The Dean of Auckland’s Anglican Cathedral is urging the Government to reconsider its decision to discontinue its funding of the Bioethics Council.

Dean Ross Bay has written to the Minister for the Environment urging that the work of the Council be continued so that the public have a forum and a mechanism in which to form and support ethical views about the implications of advances in biotechnology.

“The speed at which biotechnologies are developing means that general public understanding is unable to keep up with new scientific learning. There needs to be a place for public deliberation before the onward rush of the application of that technology overwhelms us,” says Dean Bay.

“Advances in technology can relieve human suffering and contribute to human healing but this also involves ethical boundaries. I represent a Christian world-view on this matter but there are also implications for people of other faiths and cultures and we need a place to have a conversation regarding such topics,” says Dean Bay.