Are attitudes towards bioethics entering a new era?

Since the human life process is at their roots, a legal framework without precedent for medical practice and research was bound to develop from modem biology and genetics. A vast amount of legislation has been enacted in the field of bioethics. Committees on the ethics of living sciences have blossomed. The latest of these committees was set up by President Clinton in the US. Within the United Nations, UNESCO's International Bioethics Committee (IBC) is about to approve a preliminary draft of a "Universal declaration on the human genome and human rights". This will be the first text devoted to this subject, at a universal level. Its objective is to reaffirm and update the basic principles of the human individual's dignity, of freedom for scientific research and of solidarity between individuals and states, and to apply these principles in the context of modem biomedical sciences. In order to uphold the principle that genetic research and applications should be conducted with respect for human rights, the UNESCO com-mittee's declaration will define the human genome as a fundamental part of mankind's common heritage. This definition reminds us of the links-biological and moral, as well as intellectual-which unite "all members of the human family", as stated in the 1984 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To ensure that these principles do not remain mere ideas, UNESCO's IBC has decided to study them at each of its annual sessions in the light of real cases. The purpose is to evaluate the difficulties in interpreting these principles and the nature of the obstacles which they could encounter in practice. The two themes set for the October 1996 session of the IBC illustrate the committee's determination to bring its discussions as closely into line with real life as possible. The first discussion covered "novel food" which means food produced through a genetic process. This provided an opportunity to emphasise the rights of consumers and the responsibilities that lie with those who manufacture, market and control these products. We must take note that one of the major challenges set by modem biotechnology concems controlling risks to health and the environment, regardless of a country's level of development. The scientific community has already demonstrated its concern over this matter of self-regulation, at Azilomar, where a historic congress in 1975 proposed a postponement for several years of the use of genetically modified organisms. But this sort of approach is not enough. …