Press Release 06/2007
Berlin, 21 May 2007
European bioethics advisory committees meet in Berlin
In the context of the German Presidency of the Council of the European Union,
from 23 to 25 May 2007 the National Ethics Council will be welcoming
to Berlin the delegates to the Ninth European Conference of
National Ethics Committees (COMETH) and the Ninth Forum of
National Ethics Councils (NEC), as well as the members of the
European Group on Ethics in Sciences and New Technologies (EGE).
Representatives of the ethics committees of Council of Europe member countries are
gathering for the Ninth COMETH Conference. Their deliberations will centre on the
question of the role of advisory bodies on ethics in democratic societies. A new
Chair for COMETH is also due to be elected.
The chairs and secretaries of each of the ethics councils of the EU Member States will
meet in the context of the Ninth NEC Forum. They will exchange ideas on the potential
for cooperation within the European Research Area, in particular under the conditions
of the EU's Seventh Framework Programme for Research. The main topic addressed by the
largest block of papers and discussions will be Governance and Ethics. Attention will
focus, on the one hand, on the dual role of the scientist as both researcher and
entrepreneur, and, on the other, on the effect of differing national legislations on
the practice of artificial reproduction.
Joint COMETH-NEC meetings will focus on issues of brain research and the limits of
scientific interpretation of human thought and action, as well as the boundary
between medical and social problems.
The EGE and the NEC Forum will jointly discuss questions of scientific integrity and
scientific publishing.
Bilateral meetings of the National Ethics Council and the EGE will address matters
of organ transplantation and the shortage of organs as well as of biobanks.
The conference programme is available online at:
http://www.ethikrat.org/eu2007/Programm_COMETH_NEC_23-25_Mai_07.pdf
Background information
Community promotion of research and technological development is one of the main planks
of European research policy. Measures for the promotion of research are specified
in the EU's Framework Programme for Research. Its aim is to strengthen scientific and
technological development and international competitiveness in the Member States and
to promote research in what the EU considers to be priority fields.
In view of the breakneck pace of advances recorded in the last few decades especially
in the life sciences, and of the increasing internationalization of research,
it is essential to reach a consensus on ethical standards for research not only
in national legislations but also at supranational level.
COMETH
Every one or two years since 1992, representatives of the national ethics committees
(or equivalent bodies) of member countries of the Council of Europe have met in
the context of the European Conference of National Ethics Committees (COMETH).
The purpose of the Conference is to promote cooperation between national ethics
committees, to help countries wishing to set up a national ethics committee,
and to promote public debate on ethical issues raised by scientific innovations
in the fields of biology, medicine and public health.
http://www.coe.int/T/E/Legal_Affairs/Legal_co-operation/Bioethics/COMETH/
The NEC Forum
The Forum of National Ethics Councils (NEC) is an independent, informal platform
of national ethics councils established to exchange information and experience on
important scientific and ethical issues. The delegates to the NEC Forum, which has
met at six-monthly intervals since 2003, are the chairs and secretaries of the national
ethics councils of the EU Member States. The Chairs of the EGE and of COMETH
also take part in the meetings of the NEC Forum.
http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/page_en.cfm?id=3161
The EGE
The European Group on Ethics in Sciences and New Technologies (EGE) is an independent,
multidisciplinary body that was established in 1997 as the successor organization to the
Group of Advisers on the Ethical Implications of Biotechnology (GAEIB, 1991-1997), and
advises the European Commission on the ethical aspects of science and new technologies.
Its 15 members are appointed by the President of the European Commission.
http://ec.europa.eu/european_group_ethics/index_en.htm
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