[Human cloning from the perspective of The Council of Europe bioethical standards].

Allegations negating the role of law in the resolving the controversial problem of human cloning are unjustified. Human rights, implying the magnitude and value of human person and deeply rooted inherent dignity of the human being, constitute the very foundation of every legal order. Every lawyer, as well as every specialist in medicine or biology must be aware of his own human dignity and the ethical consequences. Among the standards of the Council of Europe in the context of human cloning there must be mentioned the Additional Protocol of January 12, 1998 on the Prohibition of Cloning Human Beings. It is the integral element of the normative system of the mother convention, the European Bioethical Convention of April 4, 1997. It has the distinguished place - within this system as far as its substantial provisions exclude the possibilities of limitations and derogation. The system of the Convention and the Protocol must be viewed in the light of a broader normative environment, including the integral system of the European Convention on Human Rights and the set of recommended bioethical standards. The absolute prohibition embodied in the Protocol is limited to all the methods leading to the creation of genetically identical human beings. The protocol does not directly regulate cloning of human tissues and cells, including embryonic stem cells. However, some conclusions may be taken from the Convention and from the recommended standards. It is the assumption of the Convention and the Protocol that the guarantees embodied there must be apprehended as practical and effective ones, justifiable and not excluding the use of proper sanctions by the State. It is an unacceptable view that scientists are excluded from the sphere of the functioning of the above-mentioned prohibition. The real sense of this prohibition is to stop the unlimited liberty and arbitrary practice of such scientists. The freedom of scientific research is not absolute, and must be guided by the respect for human dignity and human rights, as by well as protective guarantees embodied in the Convention and recommended standards.