As technology advances, a wider range of applications is being found for human body parts. For ethical reasons, it is urgent that we protect human beings from being harmed by these new technologies. However, in today's liberal society, based on respect for autonomy, one may be permitted to dispose freely of one's own body if one does no harm to others, or make use of human beings who are not autonomous in order to treat other patients. It is: (1) one's own body, (2) parts and products of a human body, (3) an embryo, fetus and dead body, that are protected by human dignity, not by respect for autonomy. In order to protect human beings from being harmed by the new technologies, we need a word equivalent to 'human dignity.' Thus by examining the effectiveness of the principle of human dignity in society, we will clarify the real intention of the French ideas on bioethics, which consider human dignity a fundamental spirit.
