For the past two weeks, volunteers from Youth Defence have manned a stall in Knock collecting signatures against embryonic stem cell research. The pro-life activists were able to collect thousands of signatures that will be sent to Minister for Health Mary Harney, calling for her to legislate against embryonic stem cell research.

One of the volunteers, Delia Bryan said, “We met so many wonderful people in Knock and were blessed with some amazing conversations. What was most surprising though was how many people did not fully understand the topic of stem cell research. Many people didn’t know that embryonic stem cells have had no success in stem cell research cases, whereas adult stem cells have proven to be successful in countless cases of actual treatment.”

Rebecca, another member of the YD team said, “Despite the awareness created by YD’s campaigns there is a lot of confusion. It was shocking to see how many people didn’t know that embryonic stem cell research actually destroys a human life, and who wrongly attributed the successes of adult stem cell research to research on human embryos.”

As recently reported by Youth Defence, the Minister for Health Mary Harney said that she intends to bring forward proposals to Government this year with a view to drafting legislation to govern the area of Assisted Human Reproduction and Embryonic Stem Cell research.

Youth Defence is planning a series of important campaigns - some of which will take place in conjunction with the Life Institute. It is crucial to educate the public about this issue and encourage people to speak out against any forthcoming legislation that promotes embryo destruction.

"Our immediate target is to have 100,000 pro-life signatures on the petition by the end of the Summer of Life campaign," Rebecca went on to say. "If people are free to help out or to gather petitions locally, please call us in the office on 01 8730463 and talk to one of the YD team."