Michael Fuchs National ethics councils - Deutscher Ethikrat

Michael Fuchs National ethics councils. Their backgrounds, functions and modes of operation compared
Uruguay
In September 2001 the House of Representatives of the Republic of Uruguay voted to
establish a national ethics council, the Comisión Nacional de Bioética Humana, in
the context of a law providing for state responsibility for scientific research and its
application to human subjects and prohibiting human cloning. Of its five members,
the chair is appointed by the Executive and one member each by the University of the
Republic, the Ministry of Public Health, the National Academy of Medicine and the
Clemente Estable National Institute of Biological Research.
Uruguay had already influenced the international bioethical debate through the
figure of Héctor Gros Espiell. As Uruguay’s ambassador to France and a permanent
delegate to UNESCO, he became Vice-President of UNESCO’s International
Bioethics Committee. The description of the genome as “the heritage of humanity”
included in the Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights is
largely attributable to him.
An appreciably older body than the House of Representatives’ National Ethics
Commission is the Comisión de Bioética del Sindicato Médico del Uruguay (SMU),
which celebrated its eleventh anniversary at the 2002 Bioethics Days in Montevideo.
Websites
Comisión Nacional de Bioética Humana:
http://www.parlamento.gub.uy/Repartidos/Camara/D2001090723-00.htm
Comisión de Bioética del SMU: http://www.smu.org.uy/elsmu/institucion/comisiones/bioetica
70
IV. Middle East and north Africa
Israel
A discussion on bioethical issues in the development and application of new technologies
has been under way in Israel for many years, involving not only the predominant
international topics and approaches but also the expression and
interpretation of rabbinical tradition. However, it is only in the last few years that attempts
have been made, in the framework of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities,
to gather representatives of the majority of interpretations and schools
around a single table in a permanent body. The Bioethics Advisory Committee of the
Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities has since published two important Opinions.
August 2001 saw the publication of the report The Use of Embryonic Stem Cells
for Therapeutic Research, which adopts an approach related to the present British position
and also discusses therapeutic cloning. This was followed in December 2002 by
another report, on biobanks Population-Based Large-Scale Collections of DNA Samples
and Databases of Genetic Information.
The Committee’s members are representatives of the judicial authorities and the
judiciary, academic lawyers, geneticists, philosophers and biochemists; there is one
representative of the Ministry of Health.
The activity of the 12-member Committee is based on the general provisions on
the functions and structure of the Academy laid down by the Law of 1961, according
to which it is required not only to promote science and international scientific exchanges,
but also to advise the Government within its field of competence.
Website
Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities: http://www.academy.ac.il
Bibliography
Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities (2001). The Use of Embryonic Stem Cells for Therapeutic Research.
Available online at: http://www.academy.ac.il/bioethics/english/report1/Report1-e.html
Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities (2002). Population-Based Large-Scale Collections of DNA Samples
and Databases of Genetic Information.
Available online at: http://www.academy.ac.il/bioethics/english/report2/Report2-e.html
71