Madanamoothoo Allane
IRDEIC, France.
Eur J Health Law. 2011 May;18(3):293-303. doi: 10.1163/157180911x574119.
Since the advent of test-tube babies, advances in the biomedical field have risen steadily. In parallel, the scientific body has never since ceased to debate the ethical issues that they arise. This is particularly the case regarding saviour-sibling. Saviour-sibling refers to a child who is conceived to cure an older brother or sister suffering from a serious family genetic disease. Therefore, it is meant to give birth to a child who will provide stem-cells taken from the umbilical cord or bone marrow afterwards, to treat an elder sick sibling. In England, this practice has been explicitly allowed by the new Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 under some strict conditions. In France, this practice, authorized by the Bioethics Law of August 2004 and confirmed by its decree of implementation published in the Official Journal on 23 December 2006, is also strictly regulated. This technique opens up new perspectives and enormous hope. Its legalisation is certainly justified by the suffering of the parents and to avoid that they travel to other States where it is permitted. However, it raises serious psychological ethical and judicial issues. Following an analysis of the English and French laws on saviour siblings, its controversial side will be highlighted, before concluding whether or not this new Pandora's box which is saviour-sibling, should be closed and other alternative methods encouraged.
自试管婴儿问世以来，生物医学领域的进展稳步提升。与此同时，科学界从未停止对其引发的伦理问题进行辩论。在“救星同胞”问题上尤其如此。“救星同胞”指的是为治愈患有严重家族遗传病的哥哥或姐姐而孕育的孩子。也就是说，其目的是生出一个孩子，以便日后获取该孩子脐带血或骨髓中的干细胞来治疗患病的年长同胞。在英国，2008年新的《人类受精与胚胎学法案》在一些严格条件下明确允许了这种做法。在法国，这种经2004年8月《生物伦理法》批准并由2006年12月23日在《政府公报》上公布的实施法令确认的做法，同样受到严格监管。这项技术开辟了新的前景并带来了巨大希望。其合法化对于父母的痛苦而言无疑是合理的，也避免了他们前往其他允许这种做法的国家。然而，它引发了严重的心理、伦理和司法问题。在分析了英国和法国关于“救星同胞”的法律后，将突出其争议性的一面，然后再得出是否应该关闭这个名为“救星同胞”的新潘多拉魔盒并鼓励采用其他替代方法的结论。
