Genetic Intervention: Rights and Ethical Values

Abstract

Faced on one hand with the sensational innovations brought about by the new biological technologies and on the other with the need to safeguard human rights adequately and also, in increasingly global terms, the rights of the environment and of the ecosystem, the issue that must be tackled is not only the definition of clear rules but also whether the law can effectively intervene in and interact with the on-going progress of science and technology.

The complexity of the problem as well as the recognition of personal and joint responsibility of all the parties involved (society, institutions and healthcare personnel) lead us to reflect on how to best safeguard fundamental community values, in order not to leave social control to regulations alone, but to resort instead to structured, differentiated and circular social approaches and control systems.