Press Releases

The German Ethics Council met for the first time today since its recent re-appointment of council members in Berlin and elected medical ethicist Alena Buyx as its chair.

The President of the German Bundestag, Wolfgang Schäuble, has appointed 21 members to the German Ethics Council as of 30 April 2020. This marks a reshuffling of the Council after several members had reached the end of their terms with the body on 10 April 2020, among them the previous chairman Peter Dabrock. Including three members who were appointed outside the regular cycle between 2016 and 2018, the German Ethics Council now has 24 members.

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: