DECLARATION ON DUTCH DECISION TO LEGALIZE EUTHANASIA

VATICAN CITY, NOV 29, 2000 (VIS) - Below is the text of the declaration given yesterday afternoon by Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin Navarro-Valls to the Italian news agency ANSA, regarding the decision by the Dutch parliament to legalize euthanasia.

"In the first place, it must be considered that this law runs counter to the Geneva Declaration of 1948, signed by the World Medical Association, and against the principles of European medical ethics, signed by doctors of 12 countries of the European Community in the conference of professional medical associations in 1987.

"The first question this law raises is a grave problem of professional ethics for the doctors who must apply it; once again we find ourselves facing a State law that runs counter to the natural law of the consciences of all.

"Instituting this law most certainly constitutes a sad first for Holland; a law that, among other things, divides legislators from public opinion, a law that violates the dignity of the human person."

OP;EUTHANASIA; HOLLAND;...;NAVARRO-VALLS;VIS;20001129;Word: 170;