Human cloning: a firm "no"” “

A “World Convention on Bioethics” to affirm the inviolability of human life and its dignity in a clear way in international law: the idea has been launched by the President of the French Republic, Jacques Chirac, on intervening on the 20th anniversary of the National Committee of Ethics on Sunday, 23 February. Speaking to the Collège de France, Chirac made it clear that the position of the French government against human cloning (both therapeutic and reproductive) is very firm. In saying so he entered into the heated debate that has been opened – and not only in France – immediately after the announcement of the birth of a cloned baby in the USA promoted by the Raelian sect. The French bishops and the Protestant Federation have also intervened on the question; in two separate declarations they have unanimously asked for an “explicit” ban on cloning under French law. The President’s words. A form of eugenics, an “unacceptable” method, “a crime against humanity”: just some of the stronger terms used by French President Jacques Chirac to define human cloning. “In so far as it breaks with sexual procreation in favour of a genetically identical reproduction of an another living human being – said Chirac – reproductive cloning represents the most extreme form of eugenics. That’s why its experimentation is unacceptable”. Chirac did not mince words: he called human cloning “one of the gravest assaults on the liberty and dignity of the human person” and he added: “I unreservedly approve the bill currently being discussed [in the French Parliament] that prohibits it, calling it a crime against the human species”. But the fact that France is committed to the adoption of national legislation in defence of the human embryo is not enough. “Common international rules also need to be put in place – said Chirac – . That’s why I hope for the adoption of a World Convention on bioethics”. The proposal will be presented to the United Nations by Chirac himself, on the occasion of the general Conference of UNESCO in the autumn. The Franco-German axis once again. Also on bioethical issues, France and Germany are walking in tandem. In France, the minister of health Jean-Francois Mattei has presented the Senate with a series of proposals of the government for the reform of the laws on bioethics. In the proposed legislation, the ban on reproductive cloning is reinforced, imposing a 20-year term of imprisonment on anyone who commits such a crime. Discussed on 28, 29 and 30 January, the government’s proposals were approved by the Senate. In Germany, the prohibition of human cloning has met with wide consensus: a cross-party group of MPs presented a recommendation to the government in recent days, urging it to promote a total ban on cloning, and draw “no distinction between reproductive and therapeutic cloning”. Germany too has called for an international convention. The view of the Churches. The French Episcopal Conference and the Protestant Federation have issued two documents, almost simultaneously, to coincide with the days in which Parliament resumed the debate on the “bill relating to bioethics”. They both affirm, almost in unison, the Churches’ firm rejection of cloning and ask for its explicit banning under French legislation. According to the Catholic bishops, human cloning involves “interferences in the essential elements of the identity of the future human being” and therefore represents “a grave violation of the dignity of man”. In the view of the Protestants, “human life will always remain a mystery and however complex and sophisticated science and technology may be, they will never have the last word”.