Specific topic

Collection and storage of biological data and materials (biobanks)

Biological materials banks are facilities for the storage of materials taken from the human body. They may contain bodily substances (such as blood and semen) or tissue-based material (e.g. foetal tissue or stem cells derived from umbilical-cord blood), as well as genetic data.

Biological materials banks, from the point of view of biomedical research, are an indispensable prerequisite for the acquisition of important new knowledge that will permit the specifically directed further development of therapeutic and diagnostic methods and applications. The potential economic benefits are therefore substantial and are attractive to, for example, the pharmaceutical industry. It is essential to consider the role of patients and donors, whose personal rights and right to know or not to know must be taken into account, in the light of this situation.

The ethical and legal implications of the operation of biological materials banks arise in connection with, for instance, the possible reuse of collected body material for other purposes. This raises the question of how far patients and donors or, as the case may be, their families should be informed of this possibility in order for them to give their consent.

The Opinion can be accessed online at: http://www.ethikrat.org/_english/publications/Opinion_Biobanks-for-research.pdf

(back to the top)