World split over Dutch euthanasia move

The Netherlands' groundbreaking decision to legalise euthanasia caused ripples around the world on Wednesday as Belgium prepared to follow suit and other countries came out in outright condemnation.

After the Dutch Senate approved legislation on Tuesday making the Netherlands the first country in the world to allow mercy killings, Belgium continued preparations to move in the same direction by 2002, albeit under more restrictive conditions. A draft law is expected to pass the Senate there by July.

Russian Health Minister Yuri Shevchenko said, however, euthanasia was "a big sin that we must not allow" and would never be legalised in his country, while the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano branded the new law as "criminal."

"Euthanasia is an aberration and killing a patient is a criminal act," said the paper, which reflects the official thinking in top circles in the Roman Catholic Church.

It said it was "hard to believe how such a ghastly choice can be called 'civilised and humanitarian'."

Although the Netherlands' decision to legalise euthanasia was a first, in many states the practice is implicitly allowed. Attitudes vary across the world and differences of opinion are often rife within countries themselves.

Some turn a blind eye to "assisted suicide", but many others refuse to countenance any legal framework for "active euthanasia".

While German politicians and Protestant church officials voiced displeasure at the Dutch decision on Wednesday, an opinion poll in Germany showed they were out of step with public opinion.

The poll among 2,094 people by the Allensbach group and released Wednesday showed that 64 percent of west Germans and 80 percent of east Germans felt a critically ill patient had the right to ask a doctor to end his life.

Justice Minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin told state-run ARD television: "We should focus on letting humans die with dignity and without suffering and not waste our energy asking if euthanasia should be legalised."

In France a right-wing leader said the Dutch had taken a "scandalous decision".

"Anyone can, now, in a hospital in the Netherlands, kill someone," Philippe de Villiers, the president of the Movement for France said.

In March a French government ethics committee opened up the possibility of permitting euthanasia in "rare and exceptional circumstances."

In Australia, the Dutch move was hailed by euthanasia pioneer Philip Nitschke -- nicknamed Doctor Death -- who announced he is now investigating the possibility of using a Dutch-registered ship for supervised suicides.

The suicides would take place outside Australian territorial waters aboard a variation of the pirate radio vessels once used to transmit illegal commercial radio.

Nitschke, is the Darwin general practitioner who helped four cancer patients die in 1996 after the Northern Territory became the first place in the world to legalise voluntary euthanasia.

The Northern Territory laws were overridden by the federal government eight months later after an outcry by church leaders, right-to life groups and some politicians, including Prime Minister John Howard.

The Netherlands has expressed surprise about the emotions generated by the its move and said it would distribute brochures in its embassies around the world explaining its decision (END).