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124 S. African L.J. 618 (2007)
Science versus Anti-Science: The Law on Pre-Embryo Experimentation

handle is hein.journals/soaf124 and id is 624 raw text is: SCIENCE VERSUS ANTI-SCIENCE: THE LAW ON PRE-EMBRYO EXPERIMENTATION DONRICH WJORDAAN* Head, Unit for Policy Studies, Centre for International Political Studies, University of Pretoria INTRODUCTION Is the constitutional right to freedom of scientific research' sufficiently protected in South African law? Or is it trampled on by superstitious (anti- scientific) notions about the moral status of the pre-embryo? The case of pre-embryo experimentation exemplifies the extent to which our law is informed and shaped by the values of modernity versus primitivism, of science versus anti-science. The tenor of this article is strongly critical. I wish to challenge the current South African legal-ethical regime on pre-embryo experimentation and stimulate debate on the subject. Current advances in the life sciences are taking the scientific project of modernity to new heights: after demystifying so much of nature around us, science is finally demystifying our own internal nature, including the process of the transmission of life. Since science is now approaching the very essence of who we are, the demystification process will elicit particular resistance from the more conservative sections of society. The stunning successes of science and technology in improving the human condition thus far - from modern medicine to telecommunication - and the amazing benefits that the new biotechnologies can potentially confer on humanity will, I believe, convince society to outgrow its established and self-elevating mystical conceptions of the beginnings of new human life, and to embrace a more mature, scientific, demystified conception thereof, perhaps not in the present generation, but progressively so in coming generations. The effect of the demystification of the early stages of human embryonic development on the moral status of the human pre-embryo was the subject of my previous article, in which I concluded that the human pre-embryo is not inherently protection-worthy.2 In the present article I wish to build on this conclusion and use it as a premise critically to analyse the current legal * BLC LLB MPPS (Pret). Section 16(1)(d) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. 2 Donrich W Jordaan 'The legal status of the human pre-embryo in the context of the genetic revolution' (2005) 122 SALJ 137.

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