Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Ouagadougou (Agenzia Fides) -Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso, hosted the 2nd Congress on Bio-ethics 4-6 October organised jointly by the local Catholic Ethics Committee CECA and the Pontifical Academy for Life.
The 550 participants came from the Vatican, from Italy, Belgium, France, Benin, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Niger, Mali, Togo, Portugal, Morocco, Spain, Ghana and the 13 dioceses of Burkina Faso.
The first speaker, Fr Jacques Simporè, President of CECA and the organising committee presented the themes of the Congress Bio-ethics culture, scientific research in GMO and food security, poverty, HIV/AIDS, justice, human rights, solidarity and respect of life, identified present day challenges for bio-ethics and ended with a call to promote a culture for life.
Bishop Basile Tapsoba, head of the Bishops' Commission for Healthcare Pastoral, said the Commission will soon hold a general assembly.
Bishop Lucas Sanou, vice president of the Bishops Conference of Burkina/Niger, welcomed the participants and blessed their work.
The opening address was given by Burkina's Minster of national social action and solidarity, Pascaline Tamini/Bihoun, who said ethics is a science of values which leads the person to do good and reject evil.
Conferences in the first two sessions focused on: challenges to bio-ethics in the world today by Mgr Jacques Suaudeau, Pontifical Academy for Life scientific delegate; Bioethics and the culture of human rights in Africa, by Padre Joseph Sawadogo, rector of the Shrine of Notre Dame de la Salette (Bobo-Dioulasso); a vision of man for bio-ethics: the personalist approach, by Ngr. Jean Laffitte of the Pontifical Academy for Life; Culture and ethics in the life of traditional African societies, by Archbishop Anselme Titianma Sanon of Bobo-Dioulasso. The third session was a panel discussion on: “present day problems in the practice of abscission: advantages and disadvantages”.
During the 4th and 5th sessions conferences focused on: Family and Life by a Mgr. Jean Laffitte; Religious beliefs and the value of life by Fr Alexandre Bazie, docent at the Catholic University of West Africa (UCAO); Ethics of scientific research by Dr Bindi Ouoba, president of the national Health Committee; modern Bio-technologies and GMO by Dr Jérémie Ouedraogo, geneticist; GMO and food security by Father Jean Didier Zongo, geneticist, teacher and researcher at Ouagadougou University; Science, knowledge without wisdom by Mgr Pierre Bouda, teacher of philosophy at Ouagadougou University.
The 6th and 7th sessions consisted of panel discussions on the problem of “ serum discordant couples and prevention of mother-child transmission of HIV (PTME)” and “poverty, malnutrition and promotion of life”.
The closing session reflected on the development of African Institutes for life and the family and justice, rights, solidarity and respect for life. (AP) (16/10/2007 Agenzia Fides; Righe:46; Parole:515)
