Yet in the face of the announcement in Chicago late last year, non-binding declarations are clearly not enough. Effective national laws are required if such statements of ethical principle are to be converted into enforceable duties. The Declaration goes on to deal with the responsibilities of researchers, as well as the role of the State. The latter is encouraged to establish frameworks for the free exercise of scientific activity. Three articles assert the necessity of safeguarding the interests of individuals, families and population groups which are especially vulnerable to disease or disability of a genetic character.
International cooperation is encouraged with regard to the dissemination of scientific knowledge.
The Declaration finally calls for the enhancement of the research capacities of developing nations. Some of the most heated exchanges that occurred at the Bilbao meeting in 1993 concerned the objections of participants from developing countries to the prospect of large pharmaceutical corporations in developed countries gaining the enforceable protection of patent law with respect to parts of the human genome. It was suggested that this was a new form of global imperialism. By it, the wealthy were now laying claim to the genome of the human species which belongs to all humans. This controversy is one of the most acute of the many policy questions which the advancement of the Human Genome Project will surely present.