27August
Dr. Al-Suwaiyel Expresses Gratefulness to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques
Setting the general rules of the Code of Ethics for Research on Living Creatures
Dr. Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Suwaiyel, KACST President,
expressed his gratitude to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin AbdulAziz, HRH the Crown Prince and HRH the Second Deputy on the Council of Ministers’ approval of the Code of Ethics for Research on Living Creatures which aims to develop general principles, and necessary controls to deal with living creatures, parts thereof, or their genetic material research areas in the light of in force professional ethics and not contrary to Islamic guidelines.
Dr. Al-Suwaiyel indicated that approving this code stems from the keenness of the Government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to safeguard the rights of living creatures guaranteed by Islam; stressing that testing on living organisms, whether human or animal or plant requires observing rules set to preserve the rights of those creatures.
KACST President explained that this code will ensure man his rights, as researches would be for clear scientific purposes and should be preceded by sufficient clinical tests on animals if the nature of the research so requires, adding that the expected benefit to the man to be tested on should be greater than the potential damage. He insisted that man’s circumstances should never be exploited in any way and his right in a natural life, integrity and safety of all types of harm in accordance with the provisions of Islamic Sharia must be observed and taken into account.
Dr. Al-Suwaiyel added that animals may be used for scientific research by all empirical and scientific means which do not cause unusual pain to the animal subject to the test and exclusively in researches that cannot achieve its objectives without such use. The passive use of animals threatened with extinction should be banned. As for plant, it is prohibited to use plants that disequilibrate the environmental balance and distribution of vegetation cover. The negative use of plants threatened with extinction is also prohibited.
It is worth mention that The National Committee of Medical & Bioethics was approved by the Royal Decree number 7/B/ 9512 on 18/5/1422H, to be presided and supervised by KACST and includes in its membership the National Guard, Ministry of Defense and Aviation, Ministry of Interior, Administration of Scientific Research and Fatwa and King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center.