Quebec Court Strikes Down Parts of Federal Anti-Cloning Law
By The Canadian Press,
The Canadian Press
| 06. 25. 2008
MONTREAL - The Quebec Court of Appeal has ruled that Ottawa overstepped its authority when drawing up laws on assisted human reproduction.
The court says dozens of federal provisions on clinical and research activities are unconstitutional because they encroach on provincial jurisdictions.
Appellate court justices determined that assisted reproduction should be considered a health matter as opposed to a criminal justice issue regulated by Parliament.
The Quebec government had asked the appeals court to review the 2004 federal law on assisted human reproduction, believing parts of it should be under its control.
In a 53-page judgment, the court agreed by ruling that 22 articles of the law interfered with provincial powers.
Ottawa's assisted human reproduction law bans human cloning and the buying and selling of human embryos.
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