瑞士：植物也有尊嚴 豈能隨意踐踏
Plants deserve respect, a group of Swiss experts said Monday, arguing that killing them arbitrarily was morally wrong -- except when it comes to saving humans or maybe picking the petals off a daisy.
In a report on "the dignity of the creature in the plant world," the federal Ethics Committee on non-human Gene Technology condemned the decapitation of flowers without reason, among other sins.
Still, commission member Bernard Baertsche suggested at a press conference the body weighed such cruel acts on a case-by-case basis, noting "the simple pleasure of picking the petals off a daisy might suffice as a reason."
Similarly "all action that involves plants in the aim to conserve the human species is morally justified," the commission, tasked to offer an ethical take on all areas of biotechnology and genetic engineering, said in its report.
Nor did the commission object to genetic engineering, since this did not threaten plants' "autonomy -- that is their capacity to reproduce or their capacity of adaptation."
And only a minority of the group's members objected to patenting plants, with the majority ruling the action did not infringe on "their moral value."
瑞士有關專家於本週一稱，植物也應得到尊重，肆意傷害花草是不道德行爲——不過爲了保護人類而採取的涉及植物的行爲除外，或者採幾片雛菊花瓣可能也無妨。
瑞典非人類基因技術道德委員會在一份有關“植物尊嚴”的報告中譴責，毫無理由亂摘花朵也是一種罪惡。
委員會成員伯納德•巴特施在一個新聞發佈會上稱，委員會主要根據具體案例來權衡這些行爲是否“殘忍”，並指出“哪怕是爲了得到樂趣也可以作爲一個採花的理由”。
此外，“爲了保護人類而採取的所有涉及植物的行爲在道德上也可以接受。”該機構將爲生物技術和基因工程的所有領域嚴把“道德關”。
該機構也不反對基因工程，因爲它未威脅到植物的“繁殖和環境適應能力。”
僅有少數成員反對植物專利，但多數成員認爲植物專利並未違背“他們的道德觀”。
