Amerikai Magyar Hírlap, 2002 (14. évfolyam, 4-45. szám)

2002-05-03 / 18. szám

AMERICAN Ifungarian Journal MEDITATIONS by Dr. Bela Bonis Pastor (562) 430-0876 First Hungarian Reformed Church, The leading scientific story of 1997 was the cloning of Dolly the sheep. The day after Dolly’s existence was made known to the world, Pres. Clinton asked the national Bioethics Advisory Commission (NBAC) to assess the moral and legal issues in­volved in the use of cloning tech­nology. At present the debate still continues. On June 26, 2000, the completion of Human Genome Project was in fact celebrated with great fanfare. We have been told that this dis­covery will speed the under­standing of how genetics in­fluences disease development and will help scientists identify disease-causing genes and the discovery of new treatments. This was also the burden of the interdisciplinary course I intro­duced in the Philosophy De­partment of Cal. State Univ., Long Beach and team-taught with a prof, of the Microbiology Dept, for 12 years under the title: Genetics and Bioethics. If we believe what we read in the newspapers, we might think that genetics has all the answers to our ailments, disabilities, and suffering. This hope is, of course, false because not every sickness, suffering, and disability is genetic. There are genetic dis­orders but there are also non­­genetic disorders that we may acquire after we have been born. What we may not under­stand is that genes by themsel­ves may or may not cause the problem. There are genetic disorders that require a single gene from one parent to cause a disease, called dominant dis­orders. There are some disor­ders for which one has to in­herit a flaved gene and multiple other factors to be predisposed to certain illnessess. Comple­tion of the Human Genome Project brings hope to those who are suffering from genetic disorders and an immense chal­lenge to the scientists who are working with the application of the Human Genome results. While some are rejoicing in the news of completion of the Human Genome Project, others are very concerned about ethical implications such as: How does society view individuals with genetic abnormalities or disor­ders? Will persons with genetic abnormalities or disorders be productive members of society or will society consider them to be burdens? Who defines nor­mality and by what norm? The­se questions and others are worth raising by everyone, and particularly by the faith, com­munity. Religious and political leaders from President Bush to the Vatican, sharply criticised the creation of the first cloned human embryo. (TO BE CONTINUED) Socialist Officials on Relations Between Hungary and Romania BUCHAREST (MTI) - Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase spoke with Hungarian Socialist Party Prime Minister-elect Peter Medgyessy over the phone, said Viorel Hrebenciuc, deputy chair of the governing Social Democrat Party (PSD) of Romania during a political magazine broadcast on Romanian commercial television. Hrebenciuc did not offer any information on what the two officials spoke about, saying only that the language of the conversation had been Romanian. The PSD deputy chair, who headed a Romanian delegation in prior talks between his party and the HSP, said he was optimistic about future ties between Romania and Hungary. At the same time, he said he saw no reason to renegotiate the Memorandum of Under­standing reached between the Hungarian and Romanian prime minis­ters last December on implementation of Hungary's benefit law. "The memorandum resolved the problems between the two countries regarding the law," he said, adding that Romania would, however, be willing to enter into dialogue on the matter. László Kovács, Chair of the HSP, granted an interview to the Romanian paper Ziua, printed in Friday's edition. Kovács reiterated that when the Socialist administration took office, it wanted to amend the Memorandum of Understanding. The official, who the paper described as Hungary's next Foreign Minister, said the reason why the issue had to be re-opened was that the Hungarian labour market had become potentially open to all Romanians, which could pose a threat to jobs for nearly 900,000 Hungarian seasonal workers in farming and construction. President Sends Letter to National Elections Committee Chair (MTI) - President Ferenc Madl sent a letter to National Elec­tions Committee Chair Lajos Ficzere, asking when the Committee intended to report the official result of last Sunday's parliamentary elections. The President's media office sent a copy of the letter to MTI on Friday. The letter reads: "Following the second round of parliamentary elections on April 21, 2002, I, myself, and the Office of the Presi­dent received an extraordinarily large number of written requests, proposals and complaints. Citizens voiced concerns over the fair­ness of the balloting. Since some of the items were considered peti­tions for legal remedy, the Office of the President transferred them immediately to the National Elections Committee. Others, which are not requests for legal remedy, expressed reservations concerning certain election phenomena. "I shall very soon initiate talks with representatives of the politi­cal parties that have won seats in parliament regarding the founding session of Parliament. However, I am unable to meet my other con­stitutional obligations until the results of the elections have been officially reported. Therefore, I would like to receive information from the Committee on when it expects to conclude its decisions on requests for legal remedy, and on the date that it will issue the offi­cial election results. "I am convinced that the National Elections Committee elected by parliament and made up members delegated by the various par­ties, as well as the Regional Elections Committees are meeting their obligations in a responsible manner in keeping with their oaths. I have expressed admiration for their work on numerous occasions, and do so again in this letter. Their operation and decisions have been deemed satisfactory by the courts, which are responsible for legal supervision, and this is a sufficient guarantee that the final re­sults of the elections will be acceptable to all of society," said the letter. Unions Organize Joint May Day Celebration, HSP Leaders May Attend (MTI) - Five trade union organizations are planning a joint May Day celebration in Budapest, and initial plans call for visits by Hungarian Socialist Party Chair László Kovács and Prime Minister- Elect Peter Medgyessy, said Endre Szabó, Chair of the Forum for Trade Union Cooperation, current employee chair of the National Labour Council, at a news conference in Budapest. "The HSP has not finalised its decision to participate," said Szabó, "and we will notify the media as soon as we have more in­formation." Szabó said the unions would appreciate it if the HSP and the Alliance of Free Democrats, its prospective coalition part­ner, would hold consultations with them before finalising their coa­lition agreement. László Sándor, Chair of the National Association of Hungarian Trade Unions said that 35 of their unions had already signed a joint declaration with Medgyessy, defining certain government tasks for the next four years point-by-point. EU Ambassador on Hungary's System of Regional Institutions (MTI) - The European Union has concerns over Hungary's preparations for adopting the EU's structural foundations, because the country is far from completing its homework on this matter. If it doesn't hurry, its plan of preparations for EU membership may be at risk, said Jurgen Kooppen, chief of the EU Commission's delega­tion to Hungary, at a conference in Pécs, S. Hungary. Speaking to the meeting, made up of regional development spe­cialists from SW Hungary, Koppen pointed out that the manage­ment and agency issues of two operative EU programs regarding Hungary had not been resolved, and that the National Development Plan, the prerequisite for receiving EU funding, also had to be ready by year-end. "It would appear that the current administration was unable to set up a system of intuitions conducive to regionalism, or that it de­liberately postponed action on this matter until after the elections. Whatever the case, Hungary has suffered such a delay that we have to question the feasibility of even the Hungarian Socialist Party's program of preparation," said the diplomat. Budapest Mayor Travels to Iceland BUDAPEST (MTI) - Budapest Mayor Gabor Demszky travelled to Reykjavik to attend a meeting of the heads of major European cities, who will be discussing policies towards drugs. The Mayor also intends to explore issues related to Iceland's use of its thermal resources, to see how Icelandic experience can be adapted to Hun­gary, said the report. Church, State, and Freedom of Religion Conference in Budapest (MTI) - Constitutional lawyer Gabor Halmai said it was unfor­tunate that certain churches had attempted to pressure voters in Hungary's parliamentary elections, trying to get them to vote for church choices. Halmai was speaking to the press in Budapest, during a recess in a conference called Church, State, and Freedom of Religion: the Legislative and Cultural Hinterland in Central Asia, and East and Central Europe. Halmai said it was not a good idea for churches to connect the religious views it expects of its believers with political connota­tions, saying that, "anyone following my religious principles has to vote for this or that party." Lawyer Balazs Schanda, a department chief at the Ministry of Culture thought that while it was possible for churches to shift their emphasis under different government administrations, the legal authority of freedom of religion was stable and coherent. He stressed that the Hungarian state was ideologically neutral and that the church and the state were separate under the constitution. That, however, did not mean that the state was ideologically indifferent. Unitarian minister Ilona Szent-Ivanyi, European and Middle- East Coordinator for the International Society for Freedom of Re­ligion said the principle of freedom of religion was hurt whenever a state formed an alliance with any church, since churches cannot form alliances with a given power structure on any level. EU Assessment of Environmental Protection in Hungary (MTI) - The European Union will complete its assessment of Hungarian environmental protection by the end of May. The rele­vant document will be used by the European Commission upon drafting its report on Hungary's progress towards EU accession this year, Atanossios Baladinos of the European Commission's Chief Directorate for Environmental Protection told a press conference in Budapest. The assessment will analyse to which extent Hungary's institu­tions are suitable for meeting the obligations assumed during the integration talks, he said, adding that the draft would be finalized upon its approval by the European Council. The document will en­able the EU to grant Hungary targeted supports once the country has joined the organization, he said. Nándor Vass, Deputy State Secretary for the Environment, said the nine-member EU team surveyed the operation of Hungary's en­vironmental authorities in five fields. The European Union will draft similar reports on Hungarian agriculture and taxation. Border Violators Steal Tractor on Yugoslav Border (MTI) - Four people illegally crossing the Hungarian-Yugoslav border near the village of Katymar (Bacs-Kiskun county) stole a tractor and took it to Yugoslavia, Lieut.-Col. Ivan Kovács, spokes­man of the Kiskunhalas Border Guard Directorate reported. A resi­dent of Katymar, working with the HUF 20m worth of tractor, was attacked and overpowered by four persons who infiltrated from Yugoslavia. They forced him out of the vehicle cockpit, and after a short scuffle, two of them returned to Yugoslavia on foot, and the other two drove the tractor. The tractor owner informed the Border Guard of the incident and the two countries' authorities started checking the spot. 2002. május 3 .

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