Italy

Abstract

In Italy, the confrontation over bioethical issues has crucial implications for both cultural debate and the political agenda. The main focus has long been on the rights and obligations connected with and stemming from new possibilities made available by developments in the biomedical sciences and associated technologies, as applied to human life and especially to its beginning and its end. Many initiatives and committees have been established since the 1980s, both within hospitals and research institutions and as an expression of academic bodies and other cultural organizations. The confrontation which concerns highly controversial issues, such as the status of the embryo and euthanasia, has always been animated and became particularly harsh when laws on pregnancy termination and assisted fertilization were adopted and with the subsequent referendums. Nowadays, bioethics has consolidated itself as a challenging subject for academic teaching and research, as well as in a public debate that has had a recognized impact on some constitutional essentials: not only the right to life but also, among others, the right to quality health care in a context orientated to the principle of autonomy and self-determination. Italian debate keeps up with the most advanced international forums on new issues such as genomics and pharmacogenomics, neurosciences, and emerging technologies. At the same time, there is growing awareness of the broader scope of bioethics, including other living beings and environment.