Clause 29
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [Lords]
12:45 pm
Dawn Primarolo (Minister of State (Public Health), Department of Health; Bristol South, Labour)
I find it somewhat difficult to accept that although the very best scientists in the world, at the forefront of this science, know exactly what to do in order to progress that science, the hon. Gentleman seeks none the less to move an amendment to give them the defence that they did not know that they were doing something that the legislation applied to. We need to be very clear, and being very clear about what the offence is means that the scientists concerned must know the exact parameters within which they are working. There should not be an ambiguous judgment to be made about what a particular scientist may or may not have known at the point when they breached the legislation. There is no defence in the 1990 Act—