What Is Man, O Lord? The Human Person in a Biotech Age

Since the fundamental ethical criterion governing scientific research can only be the defense and the promotion of the integral good of the human person, it follows that any procedure performed on human beings, even at the very dawn of their personal existence, must respect the dignity and rights originating in human nature itself. Far from an extrinsic limitation on human freedom, this moral obligation arises from the very truth about the human person.