Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-07T12:32:30.405Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Human Cloning: French Legislation and European Initiatives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2019

Nicole Atwill
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The use of cloning techniques to reproduce human beings would have a dramatic impact on the individual, the society and the human species itself. Many have expressed their concern and appealed for an international ban. This article examines the French Ethics Committee's arguments for a ban on cloning, evaluates existing French legislation in the area, and enumerates European efforts against human cloning.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Legal Information , Volume 28 , Issue 3 , Winter 2000 , pp. 500 - 511
Copyright
Copyright © 2000 by the International Association of Law Libraries 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes

1 Rapport No. 54 du Comité Consultatif National D'Ethique pour les sciences de la vie et de la santé: Réponse au Président de la République au sujet du clonage reproductif, http://www.ccne-ethique.org: Aspects scientifiques et techniques, at 2.Google Scholar

2 Id. at 10.Google Scholar

3 Id. at 11.Google Scholar

4 Id. Google Scholar

5 Asexual reproduction: Creation of organism without any new genetic material being added. All of the organisms produced by asexual reproduction of a given organism have an identical set of genes in the nucleus of their cells; they are clones.Google Scholar

6 Sexual reproduction: Creation of organisms from two parents, one male and one female, whose genetic material is randomly mixed, so that descendants are all genetically different, with the exception of identical twins.Google Scholar

7 Supra note 1, Introduction, at 1.Google Scholar

8 Id. Google Scholar

9 Supra note 1, Consideration ethiques, at 2.Google Scholar

10 1994 J.O. (L175) 11060.Google Scholar

11 Pen, C.., Art. 511–18.Google Scholar

12 Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with Regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine: Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine. Council of Europe, ETS (European Treaty Series) No. 164, 1997. http://coe.fr/eng/legaltxt/1640.htm.Google Scholar

13 Decree No 83–132 dated Feb 23, 1983, 1983 J.O.(L47) 630.Google Scholar

14 Supra note 1, Considerations éthiques, at 3 & 4.Google Scholar

15 Id. Google Scholar

16 See also, the explanatory report to the Additional Protocol to the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine stating “… as naturally occurring genetic recombination is likely to create more freedom for the human being than a predetermined genetic make up, it is in the interest of all persons to keep the essentially random nature of the composition of their own genes.” http://www.coe.fr/oviedo/rap.168e.htm.Google Scholar

17 Supra note 1, Considerations Ethiques, at 4.Google Scholar

18 Id. at 5.Google Scholar

19 Supra note 1, Conclusions, at 1 & 2.Google Scholar

20 Law No. 94–548, dated July 1, 1994, in 1994 J.O. (L152) 9559; Law No. 94–653, dated July 29, 1994, in 1994 J.O. (L175) 11056; and Law No. 94–654, dated July 29, 1994, in J.O. (L175) 11060.Google Scholar

21 Bensoussan, A., Les biotechnologies, l'éthique biomedicale et le droit, p. 30 (Editions Hermes, 1995).Google Scholar

22 Supra note 20.Google Scholar

23 C. civ., Arts. 16 & 16–1.Google Scholar

24 The Conseil d'Etat has a dual role, adviser and judge of the administration and it is the highest administrative court in France. It publishes an annual report to the President of the Republic, in which, besides reviewing the work of the Conseil, it may indicate what reforms of an administrative or legislative character it deems desirable.Google Scholar

25 Supra note 20.Google Scholar

26 Founded in 1949, the Council of Europe is the oldest European organization. Based in Strasbourg, France, it has 40 member countries and covers every policy area except defense. It is separate from the European Union.Google Scholar

27 Supra note 12.Google Scholar

28 Additional Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine, on the Prohibition of Cloning Human Beings. Council of Europe, ETS No. 168, 1998. http://www.coe.fr/eng/legaltxt/168e.htm.Google Scholar

29 They are: Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Moldova, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey.Google Scholar

30 “Explanatory Report to the Additional Protocol on the Prohibition of Cloning Human Beings:” http://www.coe.fr/oviedo/rap.168e.htm.Google Scholar

31 “Call for cloning ban:” http://www.europarl.eu.int/dg3/sdp/pointses/en/p980112.htm#36.Google Scholar

32 1997 O.J. (Office Journal of the European Community) (C155), p. 92.Google Scholar

33 European Report (June 4, 1997), Lexis/Nexis.Google Scholar

34 COM(97) 446 fin., 1997 O.J. (C286), p. 98.Google Scholar

35 Bulletin EU 7/8, 1997, Annexes to the Conclusions of the Presidency.Google Scholar

36 European Report (Jan. 17, 1998), Lexis/Nexis.Google Scholar

37 Monde, Le (Jan. 13, 1998), at 2.Google Scholar