Is it true that the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, called for the abolition of the Nuremberg Code?

Information is being circulated that Ursula von der Leyen allegedly said that the Nuremberg Code has become irrelevant over the years and has proposed its abolition. We decided to check whether the head of the European Commission spoke in this vein.

Information about such a statement was disseminated by the media (for example, "Moskovsky Komsomolets", "Pravda.ru" And RIA "Katyusha"), forums, users social networks, blogs and authors Telegram-channels. She also appeared on English-speaking platforms. It is reported that Ursula von der Leyen, during a press conference on December 1, proposed a revision of parts of the code relating to bioethics and informed consent.

Mentioned press conference wide illuminated in European Media, on the official website of the European Commission there is also its video recording. The head of the European Commission speaks with Stella Kyriakides, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety. If you carefully read Ursula von der Leyen's speech, you will notice that she does not mention the Nuremberg Code at all. Instead, starting at 12:22, she answers a question from the audience about her position on mandatory vaccination in European countries. The head of the European Commission said that legally this is entirely within the competence of the member states themselves, but she also outlined her own position: “I believe that it is now optimal and correct to begin a discussion of what measures can be used to encourage potentially mandatory vaccination in the European Union. It requires discussion, it requires a common approach, but it is a discussion that I think needs to begin." In her speech, Ursula von der Leyen expressed concern that a third of the EU population has not been vaccinated. She is particularly concerned about children, for whom the vaccine is not yet approved in many countries, and people for whom vaccination is contraindicated due to the presence of certain diseases.

Separately, it is worth noting that although the Nuremberg Code contains references to bioethics and informed consent, these points can't be applied to vaccination against the new coronavirus infection. Entire Code regulates the procedure for conducting medical experiments (the need for informed consent, previous experiments on animals, the value of the experiment is higher than the potential risk for the subjects, scientific qualifications of the researchers, etc.).

Vaccination is not covered by the code for several reasons. Firstly, vaccines tested in preclinical and clinical research, including on volunteers. And these studies corresponded all current legal and ethical standards. Secondly, informed voluntary consent for an experiment and for vaccination are different. Refusal of the first entails only non-participation in the experiment; refusal of the second is appropriate for medical reasons, and without them, depending on the legislation of the country entails some legal restrictions necessary to ensure the right of others to health and safety.

Thus, the statement of the head of the European Commission that the Nuremberg Code is outdated and it is time to abolish it is a fake, most likely launched by European anti-vaccinators. Moreover, vaccination is not regulated by the Nuremberg Code at all, therefore, even if it were canceled or its essence was changed, this would not affect the legal possibility of introducing compulsory vaccination in individual countries.

Fake

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Not true: Vaccines are a terrible experiment on people, and masks don’t save you from anything.
2. Fake: “Vaccination is a genetic experiment”