Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-11-29-Speech-4-042"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20011129.1.4-042"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, for a year now, we in this Parliament have had the opportunity to get to grips with the ethical, social, economic and legal issues raised by human genetics. I want to thank Mr Fiori for his comprehensive report. We are currently in a situation of conflict between the breathtaking progress of modern medicine and the ethical foundations of our society. The decoding of the human genome, the discovery of the functions of the genes, new medical techniques and now stem cell therapy are opening up revolutionary new possibilities for curing quite specific diseases. But this means that our political responsibility is also growing. It is the task of politics to define clear boundaries and give a clear direction to values. We simply cannot allow scientific progress and the potential treatments that result to erode ethical boundaries.
This week the firm ACT presented us with a fait accompli with the creation of a human embryo by nuclear transfer. Ethical boundaries have clearly been crossed. We therefore urgently need to send a clear signal from the European Parliament that human dignity must be protected from research that knows no boundaries and no taboos. We must, therefore, speak out clearly against reproductive and therapeutic cloning of human embryos, against any interventions in the human germ line and against the production of human embryos solely for research purposes. This ban must apply for both private and public research.
When it comes to stem cell research, I am, in principle, against research that consumes embryos. I do, however, find the research into the 72 embryonic stem cell lines that were already in existence before 1 August 2001 acceptable in basic research. Instead of putting life at everyone’s disposal, special support must be given to alternative research using foetal and adult stem cells. Every human being has the right to uniqueness. As politicians, we must defend that right vehemently in future."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples