Switzerland: the bishops and human research “Yes” to the draft constitutional article on human research, due to undergo popular voting next March 7. However, “the various stages of the bill must be attentively followed”. In a nutshell, this is the position of the Bioethics Committee of the Swiss Bishops Conference (CES) regarding article 118b of the Constitution that will be the object of Federal consultation March 7. The draft article has three objectives, the bishops declared. Firstly, “medical research must protect human dignity and personality”, supervising on the liberty of the said research and “taking into account its importance for health and society”. The measure must equally “promote the quality and transparency of research on humans and “lay the basis” of its “harmonious regulation across Switzerland”. The CES Bioethics Committee “endorses this Constitutional article – states the note – whenever the principle of human dignity, which is a fundamental right, enjoys full protection, and when the promotion of freedom of research follows the just direction”. Notably, explain Swiss bishops, “the freedom of the objects of the research must be guaranteed”, and the principle of subsidiarity “must be respected along with the principle of proportionality between the research and its potential risks”. Hence, the bishops ask MPs to “adopt a law to this regard” on condition “that the guiding principles of article 118b are accurately followed”. According to the bishops, it is necessary “to avoid utilitarian ideologies which don’t prioritize human interest, to the detriment of the objective good of the human person and his dignity; to avoid utilitarian approaches which only value the benefit/risks ratio; to implement the statement ‘that dignity entails granting respect to life before birth and after death’ as declared in the message of the Federal Council; to adopt terms which respect the ‘living’ embryo and subsequently the ‘in vitro’ embryo”; to secure that “in research involving people incapable of discernment they are exposed to only minimum risk (such as sampling)”. The bioethics Commission of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference, concludes the note, “thus gives positive assessment to the constitutional article 118b”. It “respects the principle of human dignity, to which research is subordinated” and “creates a basis which allows for the harmonious regulation of medical research in Switzerland, promoting quality and transparency at the same time”.Italy: the migrants’ rebellion “There has been no problem of racism on the part of the residents” of Rosarno. Calabria’s population, “those who are worthy of the history of their own civilization and Christianity, which constitutes the population majority, have a history of reception, solidarity, and fraternity towards everyone”. “‘What happened in Rosarno was the logical consequence of a serious and unforgivable social and economic indifference”. During the winter session of the Calabrian Bishops’ Conference, the bishops issued a statement providing an insight into last month’s guerrilla warfare triggered by some one hundred non-EU migrant farmhands, encamped in abandoned buildings in inhuman conditions, in reaction to the wounding of two. “”Everyone knew about the living conditions of the immigrants, including the governing authorities, who carried out surveys but then failed to take action. Everyone was also aware that their labour was being exploited by local criminals”, the statement said. ” According to the bishops, ”the inevitable outcome was that some of the immigrants would rebel against this modern form of slavery imposed by local criminals. The clashes that involved the locals and the migrant workers was not caused by racism on the part of the local population”. The bishops’ appeal “not to seek one’s own justice, but to have faith in the State and in all those who endeavor to combine solidarity and legality for the good” of the migrants. The government is “urged” to “prevent further violence with long-term projects and sensitive policy making. Reception cannot be confined to assistance. Furthermore – continues the note – we wish that this appeal reaches the heart of organized crime, especially occult organized crime, in order to uproot the plague of the black market and other forms of illegality”.
