by NexDev | April 22, 2016 | News
A young 24-year old American, Ian Burkhard, paralyzed following a diving accident 4 years ago, has succeeded in moving his right arm by his thoughts.
Two years ago, Ian was lucky to be selected to participate in the testing of a new procedure aimed at healing paralysis, in collaboration with Ohio State University, USA.
In April 2014, a neurosurgeon team implanted a 4 mm chip directly into his brain. This chip, with 96 electrodes and hooked up to a computer via a port directly screwed into his skull, serves to “translate” the commands given by the brain. An algorithm decodes the signals and adds other commands which replace those the vertebral column can no longer communicate. On the patient’s arm, the doctors placed a sort of “sleeve” of electrodes connected to and activated by computer transmitted data. The 20 electrodes on this sleeve send a sequence of signals to stimulate the muscular fibers thus allowing arm movement to be activated.
By June 2014, Ian had succeeded in opening and closing his hand, after long months of exercise for his atrophied muscles. Today, he can accomplish daily gestures autonomously: “I realized that my life was going to improve earlier than I had ever imagined”, rejoices the young man who hopes this technology will soon be available outside of the laboratory setting.
Already in 2012, in the Braingate clinical studies, two quadriplegic individuals were able to drink successfully for the first time on their own by using a robotic arm controlled with thoughts, thanks to a transmitter implanted in their brain.
Today this system allows, so to say « to give a new life” to individuals with inert limbs due to spinal cord lesions, and should also offer hope for re-education for victims of cerebral vascular accidents who have lost mobility and those suffering from muscular illnesses.
by NexDev | April 20, 2016 | Medically Assisted Procreation
Following the International Bioethics Committee for UNESCO calling for a moratorium on the DNA editing techniques on human embryos and human reproductive cells in October 2015, the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE)* published a report on genome modification which underlines the severity of the issues and requests political awareness and civilian public’s implication on this subject.
The EGE is an independent advisory body, reporting to the President of the European Commission, composed of 15 experts appointed by the European Commission. The group has the role of examining ethical issues related to Science and New Technologies and based on their studies, to submit their advice to the European Commission to elaborate legislation or implement community policies.
The report first underlines three major changes which explain the urgency for a debate today:
- the enormous progress which has taken place these past 40 years, since the Asilomar conference in 1975;
- legalization of the « IVF-3 parents » in the United Kingdom, a technique aiming to replace the mitochondrial DNA of a woman by that of another (the ovule donor);
- The announcement in April 2015 of human genome modification performed by a Chinese team performing using the CRISPR-cas9 technique on human embryos.
After having reminded that gene modification of stem cells is only at its’ beginnings, and that there are yet a certain number of serious obstacles to be overcome before clinical applications are contemplated, the EGE underlines that the issue of its acceptability by the public remains to be determined.
The main and urgent question for politicians to address is to know whether research for stem cell genome editing techniques should be suspended or under which conditions could they continue.
The EGE believes that the considerations and deliberations on these techniques call for debates which should not be left to only a few countries or a few social groups or specialized fields, but should include public society whereby several viewpoints and expert opinions could be heard. The EGE warns against reducing the debate to security issues or potential health risks or only to the beneficiaries of this technology: other ethical principles such as human dignity, justice, equity, the proportionality and autonomy are clearly at stake and should be included in this reflection which is necessary to achieve a international governance for gene editing.
The EGE hopes that ethical considerations regarding all gene editing applications will be addressed, including those not performed on humans, since it is likely that a number of practical applications of gene editing will be made in the environmental sphere and will have important implications for the biosphere.
According to the EGE, a moratorium is needed on the transformation of human gene embryos and gametes, which leads to modifying the human genome. Should a distinction be made between basic fundamental research and that for clinical applications, since the boundaries between the two approaches are vague and sometimes tenuous? Members of the EGE have diverging standpoints; some desire a complete moratorium by referring to article 3 of the Charter for Fundamental Rights of the European Union, others do not wish to forbid fundamental research. This is the reason for calling for a larger public debate.
The EGE strongly recommends for the European Commission to demand from the group who will be appointed to succeed the current EGE group that they urgently address these ethical, scientific and legislative problems.
This new report from a European Union organization confirms the importance of a public debate and reflection on guidelines for genome editing research. Alliance VITA had also launched an appeal to the CCNE last January asking for this issue to be addressed.
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*Since created in 1991, the EGE provides the Commission with advice on specific ethical aspects on science and new technologies. Its members are experts drawn from fields such as natural and social science, philosophy, ethics and law. The EGE assumes several roles: that of General Secretary of “the European Commission’s International Dialogue on Bioethics” – a platform bringing together the National Ethics Councils from 97 countries (EU-G20 forum and beyond) –is in charge of representation and correspondence with the international organizations tasked with examining the ethical implications of science and new technologies (UN and its agencies, OECD, Council of Europe) as well as coordinating Commission activities in the fields of bioethics and ethics of science and new technologies.
- Toute personne a droit à son intégrité physique et mentale.
- Dans le cadre de la médecine et de la biologie, doivent notamment être respectés :
- Le consentement libre et éclairé de la personne concernée, selon les modalités définies par la loi ;
- L’interdiction des pratiques eugéniques, notamment celles qui ont pour but la sélection des personnes ;
- L’interdiction de faire du corps humain et de ses parties, en tant que tels, une source de profit ;
L’interdiction du clonage reproductif des êtres humains.
For further information:
Article 3 of the Charter for Fundamental Rights of the European Union:
Right to the integrity of the person.
- Everyone has the right to respect for his or her physical and mental integrity.
- In the fields of medicine and biology, the following must be respected in particular:
- The free and informed consent of the person concerned, according to the procedures laid down by law;
- The prohibition of eugenic practices, in particular those aiming at the selection of persons;
- The prohibition on making the human body and its parts as such a source of financial gain;
- The prohibition of the reproductive cloning of human beings.
by NexDev | April 19, 2016 | Palliative care
Dr. Véronique Fournier has just officially been appointed to the presidency of the new National Center for Palliative Care and End of Life, by a decree from the Health Minister, dated April 7, 2016 and published in the Official Journal on April 15.
This organization, provided for by the 2015-2018 National Plan for Palliative Care, merged with the National Observatory for the End of Life and the National Resource Center for Palliative Care.
The official announcement of this nomination, via a press release last January, raised several worries in the medical world specialized in the end of life, notably with the Scientific Council of SFAP, which gave its opinion last January 15th: “It seems difficult to recognize that Dr. Veronique Fournier has specific competences for palliative care matters. She has never worked in the field of palliative care, does not have the necessary clinical experience (…). From a university viewpoint, she has never published articles on palliative care »(…). She now claims to be in favor of euthanasia in particular circumstances. She is extremely critical towards the Leonetti law (…). Dr. Véronique Fournier’s possible appointment is completely contrary to the President of the Republic’s wishes for a spirit of consensus on these sensitive issues, and contrary to the parliament’s wishes to actively promote palliative care to reduce the inequality of access, and in conflict with ethical positions in the palliative care world.”
In fact, Véronique Fournier has been generating confusion for several years between palliative care and euthanasia, by declaring for example: “In France, palliative care is opposed to euthanasia, yet, euthanasia should become the ultimate palliative care”, or again by naming her wish for “palliative euthanasia” or an “act of euthanasia palliative.”
Following Dr. Fournier’s appointment which is finally official, even though obviously done through the back door, Alliance VITA joins the Collective Association Relieve Pain without Killing to launch an alert today. The latter had already reacted strongly to the announcement of the proposed appointment, which only reinforces concerns about the government’s genuine intentions concerning future practices of “deep and continuous sedation until death” introduced by the new end of life law dated February 2, 2016.
Extracts from the April 19, 2016 press release Soulager mais pas tuer (Relieve Pain Without Killing):
Tugdual Derville, one of the national spokesmen for Relieve Suffering Without Killing, says “this nomination strongly confirms our alert against the ambiguities in the new End of Life Law. Véronique Fournier is in favor of « palliative euthanasia », a wording which leads to serious confusion. Those who thought they ought to support the notion of profound and continuous sedation until death have been irresponsible and credulous. It is high time to clarify the ethics of palliative care as well as for the numerous medical specialties, which are more specifically implicated in the end of life. In fact, with the theories supported by Dr Fournier, it is a hidden form of euthanasia, without public awareness, nor right for objection of conscience from the caregivers, which could insidiously replace genuine palliative care and accompaniment for the end of life, respectful of the individual to be comforted without ever killing.”
The Vigilance Committees, which Soulager mais pas tuer (Relieve Suffering Without Killing), has in place in every region throughout France, are legitimate in their mission: citizens and health care professionals must be watchful to protect vulnerable individuals from all drifts toward euthanasia, while promoting good practices in matters of palliative care, and accompaniment for patients at the end of life.
by NexDev | April 15, 2016 | Laws, surveys, protagonists, News
On Thursday April 14, the federal government introduced an act on « active help in dying », hastened by the one-year limit to formulate a position after the Supreme Court judgment which ordered decriminalization of euthanasia.
Whereas the federal government could have campaigned against the Supreme Court decision which judged a euthanasia case, leaving the door wide open, even besides terminal phase illnesses, they chose a much broader draft law. In fact, the text targets both euthanasia and assisted suicide for patients “in an advanced state of irremediable decline of capacities” and where death is “reasonably foreseeable”.
Doctors, nurses and pharmacists will be involved in the process. There is no trace in the text of either a conscience clause or any verification of procedure. During the press conference the Justice and Health Ministers specified that the issue of euthanasia for minors or individuals who are mentally ill was not addressed but will remain open.
For the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, this draft law is “a perfect alibi for any murderous act.”
by NexDev | April 15, 2016 | Uncategorized
During the past few years, our world in Occident has seen the emergence of a new phenomenon: “anti-speciesism” which aims to put animals on an equal level with man.
Dating from the 1970’s anti-speciesism is in opposition to the speciesism which places man above all species. For Aymeric Caron, author of the book « Antispéciste » which was recently published, speciesism, so-called by analogy with racism and sexism, “refers to all attitudes of discrimination towards an animal due to belonging to a given species”. Therefore, in this theory resembling the Hindu culture, humanity would only have a difference of degree, and not of nature, with animals.
Could it be that man’s paradoxical attitude towards animals has contributed to the development of this phenomenon?
On the one hand we observe a particular disrespect for livestock animals, considering them as simple objects, consumable commodities, which must be as profitable as possible. Thus, certain hens in incubators never see daylight, and must lay more than 300 eggs per year! Furthermore, recent scandals in certain French slaughterhouses demonstrating serious mistreatment of animals, have also contributed to propagate this ideology
On the other hand, household pets are sometimes « humanized » to the extreme: there are cemeteries for animals, hairdressers, hotels and psychologists for dogs, just to give a few examples…
On January 28, 2015, the National Assembly passed a bill of modernization and simplification of rights by attributing to animals the symbolic quality of “living beings gifted with feelings”. “Animal rights” is henceforth a curriculum proposed in some universities.
According to Tugdual Derville, Alliance VITA’s general delegate « It is because of human dignity (and not that of the animal) that man must not inflict unnecessary suffering on animals. Cruelty towards animals is in a manner of speaking inhumane. Thus the link needs to be established between the responsibility of man regarding creation, the superiority of man on animals and the particularity of human dignity.
