Human embryo through european lenses: legal status and scientific research
| Autor | Jelena Ristic |
| Páginas | 17-30 |
17
PREFÁCIO
HUMAN EMBRYO THROUGH EUROPEAN LENSES:
LEGAL STATUS AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
JELENA RISTIĆ
(University «Ss. Cyril and Methodius» in Skopje - North Macedonia)
1. INTRODUCTION
The legal status of a human embryo, obtained by in vitro fertilization, raises
serious questions to be an swered, due to the complexity of moral, ethical and legal
issues it concerns. These issues are regularly raised in the context of scientific research
on human embryos, such as human embryonic stem cell resea rch. Namely, stem
cell researc h, where one of the possible sour ces for stem cells are human pr e-
implanta tion embryos, is «one of the pro mising areas of biotec hnology, which
offers the prospect of developing n ew methods to repair or replace tissues or cells
damaged by injuries or diseases and to treat serious chronic diseases, such as diabe-
tes, Parkinson’s, chronic heart failure as well as stroke and spinal cord injuries»1.
However, when stem c ell research concerns the use of human embryos, it raises
various questions of ethical values and of the limits and conditions for such research2.
This is ma inly due to the fact that although scientific experiments on embryos, such
as human embryonic stem cell rese arch, carry a great potential to treat serious
chronic diseases, they eventually result in the destruction of the embryo, which, if
implanted in a women, has the potential to become a human being 3.
When regulating the legal status of a human embryo, one of the major questions
that lawmak ers are facing with is whether to allow the use of human embryos for
scientific research and under what conditions, as the issue of determining the legal
status of a human embryo and the question whether to allow its use for scientific
research are closely connected. In this regard, the main focus of t his paper is to
examine the level of European consensus towards the legal status of a human embryo
and the use of human embryo for scientific research. In order to do this, the first
part of the paper will provide an overview and analysis of the international and
European legal framework on human embryo scientific research. The second part
will outline and ana lyse the case-law of the European Court of Huma n Rig hts
(«ECtHR» or «Court») in terms of the human embryo status and its use for scientific
research, determining the position that the Court has taken in this regard. The next
part will elaborate on the European regulation concerning research that involve
1European Commission, Report on Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research, 2003, p. 1.
2Ibidem.
3D. MICKOVIC, E. IGNOVSKA and A. RISTOV, New Reproductive Technologies and Law, University
«Ss. Cyril and Methodius» in Skopje, 2016, p. 332.
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