Axel Kahn (5 September 1944 – 6 July 2021) was a French scientist and
geneticist
A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic processes ...
. He was the brother of the journalist
Jean-François Kahn
Jean-François Kahn (born 12 June 1938) is a French journalist and essayist. Biography published on evene.fr
Life and career
Born in Viroflay, Yvelines, he is the brother of scientists Axel Kahn and Olivier Kahn, and son of a Jewish father an ...
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 a medical field which focuses on the genetic modification of cells to produce a therapeutic effect or the treatment of disease by repairing or reconstructing defective genetic material. The first attempt at modifying human DN ...
. 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 and ...
. He was named in 2002 as a counsellor for biosciences and
biotechnologies
Biotechnology is the integration of Natural science, natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The te ...
matters by the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
. Head of French laboratories specialized in biomedical sciences between years 1984 and 2007, he was elected President of the
Paris Descartes University 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 Augustinian friar wor ...
and
ethics
Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concer ...
to the public. As a civil servant, he was the head of the committee in charge of
genetically modified crops for
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
.
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_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.html" "title="scientific_journals.html" ;"title="scientific_journal.html" ;"title="n scientific journal">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 in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
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 some offi ...
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".''](_blank)
. 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 specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...
.
Stem cells
He has said of
stem cells as a therapy, "
Science
Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...
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
embryos which are kept frozen after
in vitro fertilization
In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating an individual's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) f ...
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. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The meaning of the term "human ...
) 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
Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI ) is an in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure in which a single sperm cell is injected directly into the cytoplasm of an egg. This technique is used in order to prepare the gametes for the obtention of em ...
, which he saw as an experimental treatment not to be used by those with
infertility, 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 (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
with the
sperm of her brother, Kahn protested what he called "social
incest
Incest ( ) is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity (marriage or stepfamily), adopti ...
" 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 or virtually identical DNA, either by natural or artificial means. In nature, some organisms produce clones through asexual reproduction. In the field of biotechnology, c ...
-based
reproduction 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
Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones ( ova, of ...
, the
eyes' or
hair'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
In genetics and developmental biology, somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is a laboratory strategy for creating a viable embryo from a body cell and an egg cell. The technique consists of taking an enucleated oocyte (egg cell) and implantin ...
, 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 has 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
*
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
The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherch ...
*''
Doctorat Honoris Causa'' from the
Université Catholique de Louvain, the
University of Liège
The University of Liège (french: Université de Liège), or ULiège, is a major public university of the French Community of Belgium based in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium. Its official language is French. As of 2020, ULiège is ranked in the 301 ...
, the
Université de Montréal
The Université de Montréal (UdeM; ; translates to University of Montreal) 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- ...
, the
Université Laval
Université Laval is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university was founded by royal charter issued by Queen Victoria in 1852, with roots in the founding of the Séminaire de Québec in 1663 by François de Montm ...
and the
Université de Sherbrooke
The University of Sherbrooke (French: Université de Sherbrooke) (UdS) is a large public French-language university in Quebec, Canada with campuses located in Sherbrooke and Longueuil, a suburb of Montreal approximately west of Sherbrooke. It i ...
.
Death
Kahn died of
bone cancer
A bone tumor is an abnormal growth of tissue in bone, traditionally classified as noncancerous (benign) or cancerous (malignant). Cancerous bone tumors usually originate from a cancer in another part of the body such as from lung, breast, thy ...
on 6 July 2021 in Paris at the age of 76.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kahn, Axel
1944 births
2021 deaths
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
Officiers of the Légion d'honneur
Academic staff of Paris Descartes University
People from Indre-et-Loire
Deaths from cancer in France
Deaths from bone cancer