| TITLE : Gian Luigi Gigli President of FIAMC |
TEXT : Dear friends,
I'm happy to send you the enclosed report from Zenit, regarding the recent
pronouncement of the Italian Bioethics Committee, in which the use of human
embryos for research has been rejected with a large majority.
Please, feel encouraged to circulate the information among your colleagues
and friends.
Gian Luigi Gigli
President of FIAMC
Italian Bioethics Committee Rejects Use of Human Embryos for Research
Including 'Spare' Embryos Resulting from Artificial Procreation
ROME, MAY 13, 2003 (ZENIT.org-Avvenire).- The National Bioethics Committee
(NBC) of Italy considers it ethically unacceptable to use human embryos for
stem cell research, including 'spare' embryos, resulting from artificial
procreation techniques.
Of the 41 members of the committee, 26 voted in opposition to
experimentation, 10 were in favor, and 5 opted for an intermediary position,
leaning toward opposition.
Leticia Moratti, Italian Minister of Education, Universities and Research,
requested the NBC's opinion in connection with the European Union's 4th
research framework program.
The NBC President Francesco D'Agostino explained the position of the
governmental consultative body, affirming that "the embryos are human lives
with full right." Therefore, the "moral duty" exists to respect and protect
them "in their right to life, regardless of the way in which they were
procreated."
Given the Oviedo Convention and the Nice Letter, the NBC also expressed
opposition to the eventual public funding of this research, since it would
impede "the ever more promising and ethically impeccable use of stem cells
from umbilical cords, naturally aborted fetuses, or 'adult' stem cells."
According to D'Agostino, there are two reasons for the NBC's 'no.' "One is
of an ethical order: if the embryo is a human life with full rights, it has
a total right to life that must be recognized."
The other reason "is of the pragmatic order: if permission was given for the
use of spare embryos, there would be a risk of endorsing a fraud, namely,
the creation of embryos for their reproductive use but, in fact, destined
for research," the jurist explained.
The position of the minority, headed by Demetrio Neri, "emphasized the
pragmatic character more: it puts ethics between parenthesis to opt for a
compromise solution," D'Agostino clarified.
"Given that these spare embryos exist and will have a bad end, according to
those in favor, they should at least be used for research," he continued.
The committee's president pointed out also that, unlike the usual scientific
protocols, in the case of stem cell research, preventive research on animals
has not been exhausted.
"I am afraid that scientists, in the hurry to attain scientific and economic
objectives, want to force the methodologies," D'Agostino concluded.
ZE03051305
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