Cambodia: 32 Surrogate Mothers Released on Bail

by | December 7, 2018 | Medically Assisted Procreation

Charged with human trafficking for serving as surrogate mothers on behalf of Chinese clients, 32 Cambodian women have just been freed from detention after agreeing to keep their babies.
An official at the Cambodian National Committee for Counter Trafficking in persons (NCCT) at the Ministry of Interior told French Press Agency (AFP): “They have promised to raise their own children and not to put them up for sale.” In addition, he declares that if the women do not respect the terms of the agreement, they’ll risk a penalty of a minimum of 15 years imprisonment. In his opinion, they were freed on “humanitarian grounds“, since many of them were pregnant.
Because surrogacy has been banned in Cambodia since 2016, the young women who were arrested last June during a police raid in Phnom Penh, will still be tried in court, along with 5 employees accused of being intermediaries in managing the trafficking business.
The surrogacy business boom occurred when China eased up on the one-child policy. Since approximately 90 million Chinese women now have the right to have a second child but are no longer of child-bearing age, and the law prohibits surrogacy, couples who can afford it, have turned to foreign surrogacy networks. South-East Asia is the most popular destination for surrogacy, since there are no restrictions for singles or same-sex couples. In addition the young women are often facing financial difficulties and the medical costs are low.
Surrogacy in this region of the world has progressively been banned, following numerous scandals and criticisms. In 2015, it was banned in Thailand, and two years ago Cambodia also outlawed the practice, partly because of the increasing demand. Only last month, eleven surrogate mothers were arrested in the country.

[Press Release] Alliance VITA Announces 2019’s Bioethics Conference on « The Value of Life »

[Press Release] Alliance VITA Announces 2019’s Bioethics Conference on « The Value of Life »

by | December 4, 2018 | Bioethics, Press Releases

 “The value of life” is the theme chosen by Alliance VITA for its’ 2019 Bioethics Conference. On four successive Mondays from January 14 to February 4, participants may attend live presentations by videoconference, debates and round table discussions on current bioethics issues in over 140 cities throughout France and abroad.

A new bioethics bill will soon be tabled by the French government, thus the symposium will host scientists and specialists to discuss crucial issues, including:

Should we allow scientific specialists to manufacture human beings, regardless of the cost? Is every human being’s life worth living? How can we show the value of the most vulnerable individuals? Can mankind be protected against outrageous marketing pressures?

For the event, this year’s poster announcement shows a youngster being weighed on a balance. This implies that multiple issues will be addressed in an unprecedented manner: the desire to have a child, artificial reproduction, surrogacy, commodification of the human body, disabilities, dependency, ageing, end-of-life, etc.

Speakers from Alliance VITA include Tugdual Derville, François-Xavier Peres, Caroline Roux, Blanche Streb and Olivier Trédan, in addition to :

  • Michael Lonsdale, actor
  • Olivier Rey, philosopher,
  • Clotilde Noël, who started the “Fallen from the Nest” Community,
  • Maître Adeline le Gouvello, lawyer from “Jurists for Children“,
  • Xavier Mirabel, oncologist,
  • Benoît Clermont, and his wife Marie-Axelle, author of “Gaspard, Between Heaven and Earth”,
  • Bertrand and Gaëlle Lionel-Marie, National Bioethical Officers for the French Catholic Family Association,
  • Sophie and Cédric Barut, authors of “I’ll be back before nightfall”,
  • General Henri Marescaux, founder of an association to help prostitutes.

More guest speakers or experts will speak locally.

Over the past 5 years, more than 35,000 people have already participated in Alliance VITA’s Annual Bioethics Conference, thus making it the leading national bioethics event.

For more information and online registration: http://www.universitedelavie.fr/

Continuous Deep Sedation Until Death: Controversial Report from French Center for End-of-Life and Palliative Care

by | November 30, 2018 | Palliative care

Almost 3 years after the Clayes-Leonetti law was voted, on Wednesday, November 28th, the French National Center for End-of-Life and Palliative Care (“CNSPFV”) published a report which provides an evaluation of the implementation of the continuous and deep sedation until death (CDSUD).
Entitled “Difficulties encountered in implementing continuous and deep sedation until the patient’s death” the report is based on approximately 15 hearings, including that of a Belgian doctor. However, the French Society of Accompaniment and Palliative Care (“SFAP”) was not even auditioned. This report should therefore be considered with caution since this is not a scientific report nor an objective analysis.
The report includes seven incongruities:

  • The continuous deep sedation until death (CDSUD) is a new legal quagmire which has complicated the possible use of end-of-life sedation instead of making it easier.
  • Amalgams are still prevalent between euthanasia vs. continuous deep sedation until death.
  • Palliative care personnel have been delegated to implement continuous deep sedation, although they may not consider this care to be appropriate for their patients at the end-of-life.
  • The fact that the patient himself may request continuous deep sedation blurs the roles between doctors and patients and could be ethically questionable.
  • There is a risk that time-frame between the patient’s request and the physician’s implementation may not conform to the good clinical practice guidelines.
  • No measures have been taken to facilitate this type of sedation for general practitioners in urban areas, faced with insufficient treatment, logistics, information and training, as well as organizational and personnel constraints.
  • There are still huge disparities from one care unit to another, depending on the sites and the medical particularities.

Claire Fourcade, as vice-president of the French Society of Accompaniment and Palliative Care (“SFAP”) which tallies 10,000 caregivers and 6000 volunteers, responded: “In its report, the National Center implies that continuous deep sedation was the unique objective. But in practice, the goal is to comfort patients with all the means we have available, not to establish a ‘quota’ for sedations”. She notes that it is regrettable that the report was written without consulting the SFAP”. She asserts: “The medical teams are ready to use the available sedation techniques, whether deep or not , reversible or not, whenever it is necessary”.
As the Head Physician in Palliative Care at the Languedoc Medical Center, in Narbonne, Claire Fourcade also emphasizes the need to clearly make the difference between sedation and palliative care: “According to the law and the National Health Authority there is a clear distinction between the two. And today, confusion is maintained by those with a hidden agenda or those who are misinformed on the issue. “
In April 2016, many concerns were raised within palliative care settings when Véronique Fournier, who is partly responsible for this report, was appointed on the sly to chair the National Center for End-of-Life and Palliative Care. She is in favor of practicing what she refers to as “palliative euthanasia“, an formula continues to foster great confusion.
Alliance VITA has repeatedly warned against the risks of euthanasia in the interpretation of the Claeys-Leonetti law. In an endeavor to remove some ambiguities, in March 2018, the French National Health Authority (“HAS”) issued recommendations for good clinical practice for implementing “continuous and deep sedation until death”.
These recommendations specify strict conditions and guidlines for implementing this type of sedation. Nonetheless, in their statement the “SFAP” emphasized: “When dealing with intricate human situations, sedative practices cannot be standardized nor curtailed to following a protocol. They vary immensely, from anti-anxiety drugs and minor tranquilizers to continuous deep sedation until death, as specified by the 2016 law. These practices must be adapted to the specific needs of each patient.”

Autistic Student Recruited for College Basketball Championship

by | November 29, 2018 | News

Kalin Bennett didn’t take his first steps until age 4, but now he has become the first player with autism to be recruited by the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association).
When he joins the Kent State University basketball team next year, Kalin will become the first autistic student-athlete to earn a NCCA scholarship, a division of the NBA (National Basketball Association)
Kalin was diagnosed with severe autism which slowed his brain’s development and made social contact difficult. Approximately 20 – 25% of these children have limited ability to successfully communicate and interact with others.
The doctors diagnosed Kalin with this form of autism when he was very young, and warned that he would never walk. However, in spite of this prediction, he began walking at age 4, and started speech development at age 8. Kalin’s success is also due to his mother’s diligent endeavors, who insisted that he have therapy and remain in contact with other children.
Measuring 2.08 meters tall (6’10’’) and weighing 134 kilos (300 pounds); Kalin not only has great basketball skills, but also excels in mathematics and music. He wants to encourage others with disabilities: “I want to have an impact not just on the court, but with kids that are struggling with the same things I am. I want to use this platform to inspire other kids with or without autism. I want to let them know, ‘hey if I can do this, you can do it, too’”.
Kalin aims to become a professional basketball player.

Press Release: Alliance VITA alarmed by Chinese Scientist’s Gene-edited Babies

Press Release: Alliance VITA alarmed by Chinese Scientist’s Gene-edited Babies

by | November 26, 2018 | Press Releases, Bioethics

The recent birth announcement by a Chinese scientist is a bombshell in the world of artificial reproductive techniques.

Alliance VITA denounces the way some researchers have tested controversial techniques, whose safety and efficacy have not been proved whatsoever, in order to create genetically-edited babies, taking advantage of families who are already afflicted by disease. This foreboding signal from China comes on the eve of the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing to be held in Hong Kong. If these alleged claims are confirmed, we can only hope that the international community will voice their outrage, to condemn these experiments, and take action to ward off any new regulatory violations.

Blanche STREB, Alliance VITA’s Director of Training and Research, Author of “Designer Babies- Towards a dystopian civilization”

“If this alleged claim is confirmed, it is an announcement that many scientists have feared for a long time: a bombshell exploding in the fragile international bioethical wall. The red line would have been crossed: a baby born from this technique is definitely an object, a guinea pig.

The scientist asserts that the each embryo’s DNA was checked, before being implanted in the mother’s uterus. However, it is impossible to check every individual cell, or even predict possible “collateral damage” in advance. It is impossible to perform clinical trials since each embryo is unique, with its own specific DNA. These cannot even be qualified as human clinical trials, but rather as directly experimenting on human beings!

While some embryos are being sorted and pre-selected in a crazy pursuit to design “perfect babies”, other scientists have deliberately decided to create embryos from scratch, then manipulate them, in a worrisome artificial reproduction frenzy to obtain “a baby at any price”, in defiant contempt of the most basic precautionary principle.”