Spotlights on the bioethical and biopolitical debate in Austria ; Bioetikos ir biopolitikos debatų austrijoje bruožai

Abstract

The author sheds some light on various aspects of the bioethical and biopolitical debate in Austria: basically sceptical attitude of a great part of the Austrian population towards biotechnology and genetic engineering makes up the background. The author's review of the discussions identifies primal biopolitical conflicts, e.g., on the so-called "Fristenlösung" or the conflict surrounding "green" gene technology. Phases of legal regulation (with the enacting of laws governing issues such as reproductive medicine) have been followed by an "institutionalization of bioethics" and recently by some attempts of democratization of the debate. A closer look at the participants shows that the government, the parliament and the political parties act quite reticent, allowing NGOs and, for instance, the Catholic Church to influence plenty of the debate. The author presents selected subjects of the current debate, e.g., the (still not decided) question of Austria's accession to the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine of the Council of Europe or the implementation of the European biopatent-directive. Stem-cell research and reproductive medicine are also discussed. The author concludes with a preliminary but critical comment on the debate.