Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-03-15-Speech-4-117"
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"en.20010315.5.4-117"2
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".
I should like to start by paying my sincere respects to our rapporteur, Mr Purvis, who has submitted a very comprehensive report containing a very detailed analysis of biotechnologies in their various applications, from medicine to agriculture, and their various aspects, from the industrial to the ethical.
However, having said that, I must admit that I am suspicious of a certain utilitarian philosophy which tends to affirm that the ends justify the means and that, ultimately, we should just let the operators get on with it and the market will sort it all out.
I am also suspicious of an ideology of progress, which was what also inspired the Nazis and Stalinists, and feel that the ethical concerns surrounding this issue are not of secondary importance but should take centre stage because biotechnologies touch on the very heart of life in all its mystery and sanctity. Biotechnologies are a vast sector, which ranges from the innocent use of natural fermenting agents, used since the dawn of mankind to make bread and beer, to the genetic engineering of human beings, which touches on the very essence of mankind in all its intimacy and heredity, leaving behind individuality in a bid to achieve immortality.
Mr Purvis’s report is immensely enthusiastic on the subject of biotechnologies, from which he expects wondrous benefits for mankind; to be fair, he does refer to the risks inherent in biotechnologies and to the ethical problems which they raise, but I should like to draw your attention to the fact that, so far, these benefits have yet to be proven. For now, the benefits seem to be assets for the companies alone and the risks appear to be liabilities for our citizens and the environment.
I shall close by quoting from two small articles in Mr Purvis’s report which deserve to be highlighted:
Article 60: [the European Parliament] wishes the technology to be exploited to the benefit of society in accordance with the fundamental values and ethical principles of European citizens, their culture and civilisation, and to this end sees the need to develop ethical guidelines;
Article 61: stresses that the public’s wish for ethically-motivated limits on genetic engineering and biotechnology is justified..."@en1
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