World Congress for Freedom of Scientific Research newsletter -7
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World Congress for Freedom of Scientific Research
the bulletin
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Number 7, December 2009
- “Freedom of research around the globe: a preliminary study” by Andrea Boggio, Assistant Professor of Legal Studies, Department of History and Social Science, Bryant University, USA: “The aim of the project is to monitor from global perspective the state of affair of medical research and practice. We really do more than just monitor research: it includes medical practice. One of the challenges of the project is to talk meaningfully about freedom and what we mean by it. My contribution is not really the political contribution. It is to develop a contribution from theoretical perspective. As academics, our tools and weapons to shape policy are theory and methodology. Then you can propose empirical findings. It will be interesting to put together our brains and think about it, to generate an international discussion through the permanent structure hosted by the Associazione Coscioni, w! hich will deal with the implementation of the study”. Read the full text on line (from the proceedings of the Second Meeting of the World Congress for Freedom of Scientific Research).
- Country report on freedom of research and cure: BRAZIL. The country of the month is Brazil, surveyed by the students of Bryant University, RI, USA (for the methodology of the study see the above presentation by Dr Andrea Boggio). The main data are that Brazil has a very strict regulation mainly on artificial reproduction techniques and abortion. Moreover some treatments namely in those fields are permissible but are only available in large urban areas and very expensive. The report is still incomplete in some fields, namely info on E. Therapeutic uses of narcotic drugs and F. Pain treatments are missing and open to contribution of readers and contact points. You can help monitoring freedom of research and cure in your country and in the world. Read more.
- Freedom of scientific opinion about drugs in the UK. Interview to former government´s chief drug adviser. Professor David Nutt, former Chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), was sacked a day after claiming that ecstasy and LSD were less dangerous than alcohol (read the Guardian). Matteo Angioli interviewed Prof. Nutt for Luca Coscioni Association. Read the interview.
- UNESCO and bioethics in Latin America. The last meeting of the International Bioethics Committee of UNESCO took place in Mexico. Among other issues IBC also focused on human cloning and international governance. The Report of IBC on Human Cloning and International Governance was submitted by the Committee to the Director-General of UNESCO on 9 June 2009. The IBC will work on its follow-up for the next biennium. Read the official outcomes. Miguel Kottow, member of the Latin American and Caribbean Network for Bioethics of UNESCO and former speaker of the World Congress for Freedom of Scientific Research, commented the outcomes of the Mexico meeting. Referring to cloning, “the general position of Latin Ame! rican bioethicists” – he says – “is to oppose the conservative view, also endorsed by the strongly predominant Catholic Church, arguing that research on embryonic stem cells is tantamount to homicide”. Read the full comment.
- Nature on freedom of research in Italy. “Appeal lost: Italian scientists have lost a final appeal against a government research call that explicitly excludes human embryonic stem cells, even though their use is legal. The researchers objected when the exclusion was added by politicians to a text agreed by a committee of scientific experts (see Nature 460, 19; 2009). They took the health ministry to court in June, arguing that the exclusion infringed a constitutional freedom of scientific research. They lost that case, and on 2 December, they lost their appeal to the supreme administrative court” (Nature, December 11, 2009). The action was followed and documented by Luca Coscioni Association which helped the three researchers raising funds to pay for their legal proceeding and got the support of 100 researchers and academics from all over the world (read more).
News in brief:
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