“Categorically excluding any type of research on children or the mentally ill”: that’s the imperative spelt out by Monsignor Gebhard Fürst, expert for bioethics of the German Bishops’ Conference and bishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, in an interview with the German Catholic press agency KNA. Criticising a UNESCO document on bioethics, the bishop observed that some parts of it “are incompatible with human dignity”. In the meantime the UNESCO consultation for the first global declaration on bioethics began on 10 October. Its aim is to fix ethical standards in medicine at the international level. The final document will be approved by the general conference in Paris in the middle of the month.
