South Australian Consolidated Acts South Australian Consolidated Acts (1) The functions of
the Council are as follows:
(a) to
formulate, and keep under review, a code of ethical practice to govern—
(i)
the use of artificial fertilisation procedures;
(b)
—
(i)
to advise the Minister on the conditions to be included
in licences authorising artificial fertilisation procedures;
(c) to
carry out research into the social consequences of reproductive technology;
(d) to
promote research into the causes of human infertility (and, in doing so, to
attempt to ensure that adequate attention is given to research into the causes
of both female and male infertility);
(da) to
keep under review research involving human embryos;
(e) to
advise the Minister on any questions arising out of, or in relation to,
reproductive technology;
(f) to
promote (by the dissemination of information and in other ways) informed
public debate on the ethical and social issues that arise from reproductive
technology;
(g) to
collaborate with other bodies carrying out similar functions in Australia.
(2) The welfare of any
child to be born in consequence of an artificial fertilisation procedure must
be treated as of paramount importance, and accepted as a fundamental
principle, in the formulation of the code of ethical practice.
(3) The code of
ethical practice must contain provisions to the following effect—
(a) the
practice known as embryo flushing must be prohibited;
(b) any
persons on whose behalf a human embryo is stored outside the human body must
have the right to decide how the embryo is to be dealt with or disposed of and
a person who has made such a decision must have (while the embryo remains in
storage) the right to review the decision at intervals of no more than 12
months;
(c) a
human embryo must not be maintained outside the human body for a period
exceeding 10 years;
(d) the
culture of a human embryo outside the human body must be prohibited beyond the
stage of development at which implantation would normally occur.
(4) For the purpose of
formulating the code of ethical practice, the Council may adopt (with or
without modification) codes or standards of practice adopted elsewhere.
(5) The code of
ethical practice (and any amendments to it) will be promulgated in the form of
regulations.