In this final talk of the session on “Human embryos for Health and Research”, the focus will be on the ethics of embryo donation for stem cell research. The motives of people who choose to donate embryos for research will be briefly discussed, as will the variety of legislations on embryo research within Europe. National
Science remains the most powerful tool that our species has at its disposal to deal with the planet and its challenges – the only one to which we continue to show hope and faith, both increasingly scarce resources. For this reason, the question of the social impact of science, and the social dimension of science,
If we have to define human rights, we can say that the idea of human rights is an expression of the political and moral relationship that should prevail between individuals and society out of the context of fear. The term “human rights” suggests two things: on the one hand, a commitment to individual worth, and
The most important event in the life of the Russian scientific community in recent decades is without doubt last year’s reform of the Russian Academy of Sciences. This reform radically changes the situation both in the Russian science and in its relations with the political authorities. Last year’s reform has much deteriorated the situation not
How to be Good? is the pre-eminent question for ethics, although one that philosophers and ethicists seldom address head on. Knowing how to be good, or perhaps more modestly and more accurately, knowing how to go about trying to be good, is of immense theoretical and practical importance. This “know how” is the business of
Research on human eggs and embryos was made possible by the development of methods for egg retrieval from the ovary and fertilisation in vitro in the mid to late 70’s. In the UK, the importance of human embryo research was recognised by the Warnock Report (1984) and allowed within a regulatory framework by the original
Infertility is a condition affecting an increasing number of individuals all over the world. In recent years, this phenomenon has spread across the world, thus developing the features of an out and out epidemics. Infertility can have important repercussions on both males and females at physical and psychological level, including, among others, low self-esteem,
Last year more than one million signatures were gathered for a European Citizens Initiative, called ‘One of Us’ to support the right to life ‘of every human being from conception’. In the introduction of this ESHRE session I will briefly introduce the ESHRE position in this. ESHRE is especially critical of the campaign’s description of
Public discussions – in part, also those inspired by the traditional humanistic categories of analysis – nowadays tend to ignore or underestimate the function and the role that culture and scientific research play in the maturation and maintenance of modern democracy and of liberal values that shaped their origins and evolution. This has very well
This paper asks and suggests some answers to the question: why should, and how can, political protections be given to scientific freedom? To start to address this big question, I will pose and work through three smaller questions. Each of these forms a part of the ground that needs to be covered as we think
