Press Releases

The current pandemic is challenging our society in unprecedented ways, leading to serious ethical conflicts. The German Ethics Council supports the measures currently being taken to contain infections, even though they require great sacrifices from everyone in this country. Restrictions on freedom must, however, be continuously assessed with a view to their manifold social and economic repercussions and be gradually eased as soon as possible. With its Ad hoc Recommendation "Solidarity and Responsibility during the Coronavirus Crisis", published today, the Ethics Council wants to provide ethical guidance for both this difficult balancing process and for the dramatic choices looming in the healthcare system.

In its opinion “Robotics for Good Care” published today, the German Ethics Council weighs up the opportunities and risks associated with the use of robots in care. The Council concludes that robots can make a valuable contribution to improving the quality of life of people in need of care and working conditions in nursing care. This presupposes, however, that the application of robotics neither replaces interpersonal relationships nor takes place against the will of those dependent on care or caregivers. Furthermore, it should not serve merely to maximise efficiency, and the development of technologies should involve the people affected by their application.

Governments and stakeholders around the world are urged to put ethical considerations at the centre of any developments in global governance of heritable human genome editing, in a new statement published today.

On 20 February 2020, the German Ethics Council adopted its Ad Hoc Recommendation "Transgender Identity in Children and Adolescents: Therapeutic Controversies – Ethical Orientation", which reads as follows:

At the public evening event "Bioethics Forum" on 19 February 2020, the German Ethics Council will discuss the ethical aspects of an appropriate social and medical approach to transgender identity in children and adolescents.

On Wednesday, 23 October 2019, the autumn conference of the German Ethics Council took place at the University of Göttingen on the topic "Thinking – Believing – Knowing: Climate Change and the Ethics of Science".