European ethical aspects of chimeras and hybrids
by Göran Hermerén, professor of medical ethics, University of Lund, president of the European Group on Ethics
Duration: 41:41
A natural starting point for discussions of European ethical aspects of this topic includes the European convention for human rights, the Oviedo convention and its protocols as well as the various directives and recommendations of the EC for animal research and for research ethics in general. These documents are open to more than one interpretation. Besides they have not been signed and ratified by all European countries. So on specific issues, there is likely to be more than one European position.
The first question I will discuss, given the title that has been proposed for this talk, is if there is indeed a European ethical aspect of creation of and research on chimeras and hybrids, or several ones; and I will conclude in favour of the latter one. This means that the ethical problems, concerns and preliminary conclusions will have to be related to the chosen premises. This is so, both in the general discussion of the moral status of embryos and animals, and in the more specific issues raised in research ethics and animal ethics over the creation of chimeras and hybrids.
The EGE (the European Group on Ethics) has not discussed ethical aspects of chimeras and hybrids but there has been a lively discussion in Europe on ethical aspects of chimeras and hybrids, to which not least the DER (The Danish Council on Ethics) has contributed. What is crucial in this debate is that the type and amount of tissue transferred can create animals, which do not fit easily into our classifications and which can cause moral confusion.
In my presentation, I will discuss some of the values, and ranking orders of values, which explicitly or implicitly are taken for granted in the discussion for and against arguments used in the debate pro and con chimeras and hybrids, especially arguments about “unnaturalness”, species integrity and human dignity.
The ethical problems are not quite the same if we focus on basic biological research intended to increase our understanding of the mechanisms of cell differentiation etc and research with clinical applications. I will present some options and discuss the reasons for and against them, in the light of present scientific uncertainties and some basic values. I will also try to show how changes in these premises – in assumptions about the scientific uncertainty and changes in the ranking order of values – will change the support for these conclusions. |
