DECLARATION OF THE SECOND MEETING OF THE WORLD CONGRESS FOR FREEDOM OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
We, the undersigned, women and men of science, politicians, citizens met at the headquarters of the European Parliament in Brussels 5-7 March 2009 for the Second meeting of the World Congress for Freedom of Research:
We welcome the continuation of the World Congress initiative, started with the Constituent Assembly meeting in October 2004 and continued through the first meeting in February 2006; those events were decisive for the success of the campaign at the United Nations against the proposal to ban embryonic stem cell research, as well as for the campaign in favour of the financing of such research by the European Union;
With the continuing attacks to free knowledge and research, freedom of conscience and religious freedom from various forms of obscurantism (political-ideological as well as dogmatic-religious), we feel it is urgent and necessary to make further steps towards the consolidation of the World Congress as the permanent forum for discussion and initiative for the human, civil and political rights of every citizen;
In particular, we need to respond systematically and in an organized way, to the great social issue of our time: that of disease and disability in an aging population, of the novel possibilities and prospects for care related to advances in bio-medical research, as well as the technological instruments and new form of self-managed assistance that increasingly permit recovery of lost faculties and the overcoming of disability; "from the body to the body politic" is a program of action that we propose for today to scientists, patients, politicians and all people of good will.
We, the undersigned, identify the following specific objectives to be pursued at all levels, transnational, national and local:
• monitoring the state of freedom of research and care in the world, through an annual report, and a constant update of the comparison of laws and national policies;
• strengthening or creation of policies, rules and jurisdictions, including international and constitutional law to defend the freedom of research, which corresponds to a duty of States to promote free research and to disseminate the benefits such research in an equitable manner for all citizens (Article 15, par. 1(b) and 3 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), including through cooperation with less developed area of the world;
• freedom of research on stem cell, including:
1. overcoming the prohibitions placed by the EU on the eligibility for financing of research obtained by the technique of cell nuclear transfer;
2. overcoming the prohibitions proposed, although in a non-binding document, at the United Nations;
• the creation of an international network to help disseminating accurate information about access to treatment in the world and protect patients from any violation of the right to a safe and efficacious treatment, an international service of "civil emergency" providing guidelines as the ones prepared by the International Society for Research on Stem Cells on clinical translation of stem cell research;
• the promotion of the scientific teaching method, both for its practical value, and for its decisive role in the defence of the democratic method and tolerance;
• the affirmation of the right to self-determination on treatments, according to the principle that no one shall be subjected to treatment against his will, and everyone can decide when and how to begin, continue or discontinue therapy, even in the case that the suspension would lead to death;
• the implementation of the UN Convention on the rights of people with disabilities, in particular in less developed countries.
To organize specific campaigns on the above objectives, we the undersigned:
• Confirm the Association Luca Coscioni’s role as Organizational Secretariat;
• Is committed to creating networks and working groups bringing together scientists and Nobel laureates, patients, non-governmental, political and institutional representatives, in collaboration with the Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational and Transparty (non-governmental organization with consultative status at the United Nations).
Brussels, 7 March 2009*
LIST OF SIGNATORIES:
Gilberto Corbellini, History of Medicine and Bioethics, University of Rome “Sapienza", Italy; copresident of Luca Coscioni Association
Paolo De Coppi MD, PhD, Clinical Senior Lecturer and Consultant, Great Ormodn Street Hospital and UCL Institute of Child Health, London, UK
Paolo Di Modica, Musician and affected by ALS
Kathinka Evers, Center for Research Ethics and Bioethics, Uppsala, Sweden
Barbara Forrest, Department of History & Political Science, Southeastern Louisiana University, USA
Gabriela Gebrin Cezar, Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
Alois Gratwohl, Hematology, University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
Pervez Hoodbhoy, Chairman, Department of Physics, Quaid-e-Azam University, Pakistan
Marisa Jaconi, Department of Pathology and Immunology, Geneva University, Switzerland
Miguel Kottow, Universidad de Chile; Member, Latin American and Caribbean Network for Bioethics of UNESCO
Harold Kroto, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1996
Fabio Marazzi, University of Bergamo, Italy
Alex Mauron, Associate Professor of Bioethics, University of Geneva Medical School, Switzerland
Stephen Minger, Director, King’s Stem Cell Biology Laboratory, London
Kary Mullis, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1993
Martin L. Perl, Nobel Prize in Physics 1995
Danny Reviers, Chairman of ALS Liga Belgium and affected by ALS
Sir Richard Roberts, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1993
Charles Sabine, NBC News Correspondent
Amedeo Santosuosso, Judge, Milan Court of Appeal, Italy
Miodrag Stojkovic, Centro de Investigacion Principe Felipe, Valencia, Spain
Lord Dick Taverne, founder, Sense about Science; member, House of Lords Science and Technology Committee, United Kingdom
Marco Traub, Transeuropean Stem Cell Therapy Consortium (TESCT), Switzerland, United Kingdom
Betty Williams, Nobel Prize in Peace, 1970
*the World Congress Secretariat will further explore some of the issues that have emerged during the debate, such as:
• the issue of funds for military research and the possibility of partially diverting it into research for civilian purposes;
• the implications of neurosciences;
• the implications of nanotechnologies;
• the genetically modified foods;
• free access to scientific knowledge
