The opening sentence of the Nuremberg Code, which reviews the criteria for experimentation on human beings, reads: ?The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential.?

The Nuremberg Code was formulated in the context of the Nuremberg trials following World War II, conducted to judge war crimes committed by the Nazis.

Experimentation on human beings was a form of torture used by the Third Reich, and it was supremely epitomized in places like Dachau, Buchenwald and Auschwitz.

Adolf Hitler, who led the evil forces of the Third Reich, came to power largely through military pageants staged at Nuremberg (N?rnberg, in German), once an alternate residence of German royalty. In the 1930?s, incredibly large uniformed crowds marched in formation there, with swastikas, banners, weapons and torches, while stirring Wagnerian themes of ancient and medieval pagan heroic feats were sounded as prelude to Hitler?s grand arrival front and center. The events were so surreal as to have been mesmerizing.

In March 1944, four 1000-bomber raids were carried out by the Allies on Fortress Europe, and Nuremberg was one of the key targets of the RAF. Because the city was heavily defended, was deep in Germany, and was the beneficiary of new airborne radar sets and tracking skills, the RAF suffered its worst losses in all of World War II. During one assault, 96 aircraft were downed, out of a total of 795.

At the same time, Nuremberg, a symbol of Hitler?s rise to power, is also a sign of Germany?s past glories. It was the home of the artist Albert D?rer, for example, and also the home of the Meistersingers, about whom one of Wagner?s greatest operas was composed. (Die Meistersinger von N?rnberg)

And it was here that the War crime trials were held.

But has the world forgotten? Forgotten the evil that transpired under the Nazi flag and the need for the Nuremberg Code? Again, how does the first sentence read? ?The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential.?

How does this norm ? known in bioethics today as the ?canon of loyalty? (a phrase attributed to Paul Ramsey) ? relate to direct abortion? To embryonic manipulation? To embryonic stem cell ?research,? which is really experimentation?

The obvious answer is that there is no positive ethical relationship. What was so clear to world leaders gathered in Nuremberg in 1946 is evidently being ignored now, just over a half century later.

Is civilization moving ahead, or regressing? Is it necessary to recall the events of yesterday ? Hitler?s rise to power, Stalin?s evil empire ? to grasp the meaning of what should be obvious?

What has happened to the human race that Evil can reassert its ugly head without our recognizing it as such? Why was the Nuremberg Code formulated? Wasn?t it meant as a guide not only for a present day protocol, but also for the future? Lest we forget?

Any action that directly attacks innocent human life must be condemned. This is an absolute ethical norm, which means that compromise is impossible. And solid ethics always trumps so-called ?scientific experimentation? if civilization is to be preserved and, of course, progress Godward maintained.