* Emmanuel Agius
Melita Theologica
Journal of the Faculty of Theology
University of Malta
62 (2012) 23-54
Human Dignity in European
Public Policy on Biotechnology
S
ince the discovery of the structure of the ‘DNA’ (or deoxyribonucleic acid) in the
1950’s by Watson and Crick, modern biotechnology has made a quantum leap in its
field of application in the areas of the life sciences, chemistry, agriculture, environmental
science, medicine, veterinary medicine, engineering, and computer science.1 Although
biotechnology in the broadest sense is not new, what is new now, however, is the level
of complexity and precision involved in scientists’ current ability to manipulate living
organisms, making such manipulation predictable, precise, and controlled.
To date the greatest and most notable impact of biotechnology has been in the
medical and pharmaceutical arena. It is by no means an exaggeration to conclude that
the application of biotechnological techniques in the field of health and life sciences
has brought a revolution rather than an evolution in medicine. This biotechnological
advancement in healthcare has brought great hopes and expectations of improvement
in the human condition of both current and future generations. In fact, advances in
genetics, regenerative medicine, pharmacology, neurosciences, assisted reproduction,
embryo manipulation and transfer, reproductive and therapeutic cloning, genetic
engineering, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, enhancement techniques and the use
of nanotechnology promise cures for dreaded diseases, relief from terrible suffering and
alterations of the human body and psyche.
Emmanuel Agius is the Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Malta and a member
of the European Group of Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE). He lectures in Moral
Theology and Philosophical Ethics.
1
Martina Newell-McGloughlin, Edward Re, The Evolution of Biotechnology: From Natufians to
Nanotechnology (Dordrecht, 2006), vii.
*
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