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The debate in various European countries on bioethical issues, in particular on assisted procreation and research on embryonal stem cells, is becoming ever more heated. A decree has recently been approved in Spain that facilitates the “law of assisted reproduction”; the law makes provision, among other things, for the use for research purposes of frozen embryos surplus to requirements. On 28 November Switzerland will vote on a referendum on research on “embryonal stem cells”. In both cases the Episcopal Conferences have adopted a position re-affirming the need to respect human life in all its phases, from conception to natural death. Spain: law on assisted procreation The decree that eliminates the bureaucratic obstacles to the “Law of assisted reproduction”, approved by the Council of Spanish Ministers on 29 October, “contradicts the dignity of man and his right to life”: that is the view of the Spanish bishops, who in a official statement have re-affirmed their position on the issue of embryonal stem cell research. The new decree lays down criteria according to which frozen embryos “surplus” to requirements could be used by researchers. “The production of human being in the laboratory the bishops emphasize irrespective of its ends, contradicts the dignity of the person and is ethically inadmissible”. Even the experimentation “with these ‘surplus’ human beings within fertilization processes they add is a violation of personal dignity”, because “the human embryo deserves the respect due to the human person”. According to the bishops, “these experiments implicitly lead to the application of the results to cloning for therapeutic ends”. In their view, both reproductive cloning and therapeutic cloning “are a grave violation of the dignity of the person”. The Spanish Episcopal Conference points out, on the other hand, that “research using cells taken from adults may be a real alternative. It offers a fruitful avenue for research because it does not involve any ethical problem and has already achieved results that the Church regards with hope”. In short: “However noble is the end to be pursued, the production, manipulation and destruction of human embryos is morally unacceptable. The human being can never be exploited”. According to the bishops, “recalling these ethical requirements of science does not imply fear of or opposition to scientific progress. It means ensuring that science be always placed at the service of man and of his genuine progress”. Switzerland: referendum on stem cells On 28 November 2004 the people of Switzerland will be called to vote on the Law concerning research on embryonal stem cells. In the light of this referendum, the presidency of the Conference of Swiss Bishops today issued a statement to re-affirm the Swiss Church’s rejection of any “research on embryonal stem cells” and a flyer to explain to the population what embryonal stem cells are, and to point out the ethical implications involved in such research, “too important they say for responsibility to decide on it to be left to Parliament alone”. “The issue at stake in the referendum on 28 November say the bishops is delicate and very important and has to do with the question whether stem cells derived from surplus embryos may or may not be used for scientific purposes”. The referendum was called to challenge the bill before Parliament. Normally the Swiss Episcopal Conference “does not give indications about how to vote. Nonetheless, in the present case what is at stake is a fundamental bioethical issue that concerns the question of the dignity and the inviolability of human life”. The Swiss episcopate thus feel itself “obliged” to take a stance on this complex problem by underlining that “the law concerning research of embryonal stem cells is unacceptable”. The bishops recall that research on adult stem cells has made “great progress in recent years” and, since it causes “no injury to the person”, represents “an ethically acceptable alternative”. They firmly reject, on the other hand, the current bill “for ethical reasons”, because, they explain, “it permits the use and hence the suppression of embryos for scientific ends. The Swiss Episcopal Conference has medical research at heart and therefore supports the more promising research on adult stem cells”.
