26 January 1995

Doc. 7234

WRITTEN DECLARATION N° 235 on the draft Bioethics Convention

      The undersigned, members of the Assembly,

1.       Considering the European Parliament resolutions of 16 March 1989 on bioethics and of 28 October 1993 on the cloning of the human embryo, and calling to mind the code adopted by the Nuremberg Tribunal in 1947 prohibiting medical experimentation on minors, the mentally ill and other persons unable to express consent,

2.       Take the view that the draft Convention has to be very firmly criticised, particularly in respect of:

i.       the possibility that "legally incapacitated persons" or persons "de facto incapable of giving consent" may, in certain cases, be subjected to experimentation or other medical research activities, even where there is no personal benefit and without their consent;

ii.       the possibility that experimentation may be effected on "supernumerary" embryos created through in vitro fertilisation, until the fourteenth day of development;

iii.       the possibility albeit a limited one, that the results of a genetic test may be communicated outside the health field, without this being strictly necessary from the medical viewpoint;

iv.       the possibility that the rights and freedoms of the individual which cannot be waived may in practice be violated;

3.       Affirm also that the right to life and to the integrity of the human person recognised by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and by the 1950 European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is the main one of those fundamental rights of the individual which cannot be waived;

4.       Reaffirm also:

i.       that nobody has the right to make use of another person's body, and even less so to use it as a subject for experimentation;

ii.       that all human beings must be respected in their dignity and their integrity, and that human dignity must be respected from conception to biological death;

iii.       that it is even more true that disabled persons or individuals even temporarily or partially infirm or incapable of freely and advisedly expressing their consent must not be placed at a still greater disadvantage by rules not protecting the particular situation in which they find themselves;

5.       Therefore, considering that science and medical research are always an asset to humanity when they are at the service of humankind, that science and medical research must not be an end in themselves, but must have the sole aim of bringing direct benefit to human beings, the undersigned members of the Assembly wish the Convention to be rejected and reworded in such a way that it does not infringe the rights of citizens in their most important values.

Signed:

Bianchi, Italy, -

Arata, Italy, -

Bugli, San Marino, EPP

Columberg, Switzerland, EPP

Rodeghiero, Italy, LDR

Total : 5

*       SOC : Socialist Group

      EPP : Group of the European People's Party

      EDG : European Democratic Group

      LDR : Liberal, Democratic and Reformers Group

      UEL : Group of the Unified European Left