Axel Kahn
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Axel Kahn (; 5 September 1944 – 6 July 2021) was a French geneticist. He was the brother of the journalist Jean-François Kahn and the chemist Olivier Kahn. He was a member of the French National Consultative Ethics Committee from 1992 to 2004 and worked in
gene therapy Gene therapy is Health technology, medical technology that aims to produce a therapeutic effect through the manipulation of gene expression or through altering the biological properties of living cells. The first attempt at modifying human DNA ...
. He first entered the INSERM with a specialization in
biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...
. He was named in 2002 as a counsellor for biosciences and biotechnologies matters by the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
. Head of French laboratories specialized in biomedical sciences between years 1984 and 2007, he was elected President of the
Paris Descartes University Paris Descartes University (), also known as Paris V, was a French public university located in Paris. It was one of the inheritors of the historic University of Paris, which was split into 13 universities in 1970. Paris Descartes completely merg ...
in December 2007, as the sole candidate. Kahn is known in France for his appearances in the media where he attempts to explain
genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...
and
ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...
to the public. As a civil servant, he was the head of the committee in charge of
genetically modified crops Genetically modified crops (GM crops) are plants used in agriculture, the DNA of which has been modified using genetic engineering methods. Plant genomes can be engineered by physical methods or by use of '' Agrobacterium'' for the delivery of ...
for
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
.


Views on science

Kahn, the editor of French biomedical journal (Médecine/Sciences; 2005 Impact Factor: 0.541), said in 1999 that "80 to 90 percent of what is published n scientific journals">scientific_journal.html" ;"title="n scientific journal">n scientific journalsis of little real interest" and most journals are consulted infrequently. Kahn has said that University of Oxford">Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
biologist Richard Dawkins's view of the "selfish gene theory, selfish gene" and genetic determinism is incorrect, saying: "Personally, I am strongly against the theory of ultra-genetic determinism and the Dawkins theory of 'the egoistic gene'."''Carpe Diem Communication''
''PROFESSOR AXEL KAHN: " FUTURE IS NOT WRITTEN"…''
. Consulted on 11 August 2007.
In 2004, Kahn signed a
petition A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to an officia ...
and threatened to resign from his post as head of the Paris-based, publicly financed Cochin Institute, due to cuts in government spending on research.''Leading French Geneticist and Bioethicist Threatens to Resign if his Government Doesn't "take immediate and significant steps to boost French research".''
. Consulted on 11 August 2007.


Views and positions on medical procedures


Gene therapies

Kahn was against germline gene therapies, saying that they have no therapeutical value, and he was working to outlaw them worldwide through the
World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...
.


Stem cells

He has said of
stem cell In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can change into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type of cell ...
s as a therapy, "
Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
alone is not sufficient for making decisions on stem cells, but we cannot discuss the ethical issues without clarifying the scientific facts." Kahn has said that
embryo An embryo ( ) is the initial stage of development for a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male sp ...
s which are kept frozen after
in vitro fertilization In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation in which an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating the ovulatory process, then removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) from ...
procedures and will be destroyed anyway should be used for scientific advances, because whether or not the embryo has the potential to be human, at that point its only fate is to be used for research or destruction and its only chance to contribute to a "human project" is to help with scientific research. This view (Kahn referred to himself as a
humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...
) has been viewed by some religious theorists as disrespectful of the embryos.


Infertility treatments

In 1995, Kahn was a notable opponent of intracytoplasmic sperm injection, which he saw as an experimental treatment not to be used by those with
infertility In biology, infertility is the inability of a male and female organism to Sexual reproduction, reproduce. It is usually not the natural state of a healthy organism that has reached sexual maturity, so children who have not undergone puberty, whi ...
, which was not serious enough to justify the risks he perceived the procedure as having. Kahn has also spoken out against family members carrying children for other family members who are infertile. In speaking out against the case of a 62-year-old Frenchwoman who gave birth after being implanted in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
with the
sperm Sperm (: sperm or sperms) is the male reproductive Cell (biology), cell, or gamete, in anisogamous forms of sexual reproduction (forms in which there is a larger, female reproductive cell and a smaller, male one). Animals produce motile sperm ...
of her brother, Kahn protested what he called "social
incest Incest ( ) is sexual intercourse, sex between kinship, close relatives, for example a brother, sister, or parent. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by lineag ...
" and continued, "The most important thing is that doctors were involved in this process, and they did it because they were paid handsomely."


Cloning

Kahn has said: "But, from the ethical point of view, I'm totally opposed -for some reasons- to the legitimisation of the
cloning Cloning is the process of producing individual organisms with identical genomes, either by natural or artificial means. In nature, some organisms produce clones through asexual reproduction; this reproduction of an organism by itself without ...
-based
reproduction Reproduction (or procreation or breeding) is the biological process by which new individual organisms – "offspring" – are produced from their "parent" or parents. There are two forms of reproduction: Asexual reproduction, asexual and Sexual ...
of human beings. This authorisation would entitle some individuals to create human beings in their own image… This kind of subjection -even though it is only corporal- is intolerable. What could give somebody the right to choose the sex, the eyes' or
hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and ...
's colour, the chin's shape or any other characteristic of a human being? As a consequence, I see no reason for legitimating reproductive cloning. As regards therapeutic cloning, a problem can be pointed out: before making a supposedly therapeutic cloning, a human-cloning technique must be found." He has also said that therapeutic cloning simply will not work.


Political positions

Kahn has said that there can be no lasting state of Israel in its current location - "Demography, law and the uneasy conscience of the West preclude it." He called for the boycott of Israeli products.


Books authored

*
Transgenic Plants in Agriculture
' * (1998) * (And man in all of this?), by Axel Kahn (with Fabrice Papillon, 2000), pub. Nil, Paris, 2001 * (2004) * (with Fabrice Papillon, 2005) * ("Future is Not Yet Written") * , by Axel Kahn and Christian Godin, Stock edition, Paris, 2008, .


Awards and honors

*Lauréat of the Académie Nationale de Médecine *Medal of Francophony of the
Académie Française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
*
CNRS Silver Medal The CNRS Silver Medal is a scientific award given every year to about fifteen researchers by the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). It is awarded to a researcher for "the originality, quality and importance of their work, re ...
*'' Doctorat Honoris Causa'' from the
Université Catholique de Louvain UCLouvain (or Université catholique de Louvain , French for Catholic University of Louvain, officially in English the University of Louvain) is Belgium's largest French-speaking university and one of the oldest in Europe (originally establishe ...
, the
University of Liège The University of Liège (), or ULiège, is a major public university of the French Community of Belgium founded in 1817 and based in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium. Its official language is French (language), French. History The university was foun ...
, the
Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (; UdeM; ) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce on M ...
, the
Université Laval (; English: ''Laval University)'' is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university traces its roots to the Séminaire de Québec, founded by François de Montmorency-Laval in 1663, making it the oldest institutio ...
and the
Université de Sherbrooke The Université de Sherbrooke (UdeS; Quebec English, English: ''University of Sherbrooke'') is a French-language Public university, public research university in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, with a second campus in Longueuil, a suburb on the Mont ...
.


Death

Kahn died of
bone cancer A bone tumor is an neoplastic, abnormal growth of tissue in bone, traditionally classified as benign, noncancerous (benign) or malignant, cancerous (malignant). Cancerous bone tumors usually originate from a cancer in another part of the body su ...
on 6 July 2021 in Paris at the age of 76.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kahn, Axel 1944 births 2021 deaths 21st-century French physicians French biologists French geneticists French humanists French medical writers French people of German-Jewish descent Members of the French Academy of Sciences Lycée Buffon alumni University of Paris alumni Officers of the Legion of Honour Academic staff of Paris Descartes University People from Indre-et-Loire Deaths from bone cancer in France Inserm people 20th-century French physicians