New and dramatic forms of discrimination

21. Since 1988, two great global divides have grown deeper:  the first is the ever more tragic phenomenon of poverty and social discrimination (cf. CR, Part II, n. 13), and the other, more recent and less widely condemned, concerns the unborn child (cf. CR, Part II, n. 16) as the subject of experimentation and technological intervention (through techniques of artificial procreation, the use of "superfluous embryos", so-called therapeutic cloning, etc.). Here there is a risk of a new form of racism, for the development of these techniques could lead to the creation of a "sub-category of human beings", destined basically for the convenience of certain others. This would be a new and terrible form of slavery. Regrettably, it cannot be denied that the temptation of eugenics is still latent, especially if powerful commercial interests exploit it. Governments and the scientific community must be very vigilant in this domain.