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Ottawa's anti-cloning law threatens to sap provincial powers: Que. court

Canadian Press Article online since June 18th 2008, 23:00
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MONTREAL - The federal government overstepped its authority when it drafted laws on assisted human reproduction, the Quebec Court of Appeal ruled on Thursday.
In a 53-page judgment, the court said 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.
They warned that failing to correct to the imbalance could "amount to a Trojan Horse and would reduce substantially the jurisdiction of the provinces."
The federal law on assisted human reproduction was passed in 2004 and bans human cloning and the buying and selling of human embryos.
It also sets out guidelines for in vitro fertilization and research licensing.
The Quebec government had asked the appeals court to review the law, believing parts of it should be under its control.
The court agreed, ruling 22 articles aimed to regulate "an entire area of medical practice," a task usually left to the provinces.
Quebec's Health Department has often complained that Health Canada was on its turf by controlling elements of the assisted human reproduction industry.
Health Minister Philippe Couillard even tabled a bill last year to create provincial norms for clinical and research activities.
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