Comparative Approaches to European Bio-regimes & Regulations

1. Background
2. Speaker Profiles
3. Recommended Resources
4. Audio Links

Background

As the ‘biotech century’ continues to unfold, the pace of science and technology shows no sign of abating. Seemingly every week new advancements are made which in turn have far reaching consequences well beyond the domain of science or medicine. These pertinent issues affect the central understanding of human rights, of human life and existence. Because there is a lack of instant solutions or answers, a highly contentious balancing act ensues between freedom of research, the duty to heal and the duty to protect human life and dignity, which at times seem impossible to reconcile.

The emergence of these issues warrants the need for ethical analysis and policy development like never before. Whilst the global nature of these issues can be seen in the biopolicy initiatives being undertaken by such bodies as the Council of Europe and the United Nations, responses are also required from every society. These are issues which affect us all, calling for reflection on biopolicy both on the international and national level.

BioCentre invited guests to an assessment of the diverse perspectives within Europe on bio-regulation, informed by key representatives from across the continent.

Speaker Profiles

Professor Dr. Christoph Rehmann-Sutter
Head of the Unit for Ethics in Biosciences, University of Basel, Switzerland
President of the Swiss National Advisory Commission on Biomedical Ethics

Speaking on: European biopolicy: stem cell governance. The legal and ethical implications.

Christoph Rehmann-Sutter studied sociology and philosophy at the University of Basel, Switzerland and earned his PhD from the Technical University in Darmstadt, Germany. Since 1996 he has held the position of Head of Unit for Ethics in Biosciences at the University of Basel. Commencing in 2008, he will take up the position of Visiting Professor at BIOS Centre for the Study of Bioscience, Biomedicine, Biotechnology and Society at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

His research interests include the philosophical foundations of (bio)ethics, ethical governance of medicine and biotechnologies, methodology of bioethics, particularly in combination with empirical social sciences, ethics committees and the philosophical and ethical implications of developmental genetics and genomics. Since 2000, Dr. Rehmann-Sutter has contributed to various research projects including the European Research Area on Societal Aspects of Genomics and coordination of the Swiss contribution on behalf of the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health and the Swiss National Science Foundation. Research into nano ethics, ethical decision making in the field of genetic diagnostics and truth and ethics in genetic counselling have also been undertaken.

Dr. Rehmann-Sutter was elected in 2001 by the Swiss government to the role of President of the Swiss National Advisory Commission on Biomedical Ethics. A member of the Bureau of the European Conference of National Ethics Committees (COMETH) at the Council of Europe, he is also a board member of the Swiss Society for Biomedical Ethics. 


Mr. Alan Doran
Interim Chief Executive, UK Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority

Speaking on: Balancing trust with progress - Why regulation of ART and embryo research works in the UK

For 12 years, Alan was a civil servant in the then Department of Health and Social Security.  He worked as the main link with two Regions on their 10-year plans and led the team that developed the first national set of Performance Indicators.  Following a stint as Private Secretary to the Permanent Secretary (during which time the Griffiths Management Inquiry Report was produced), Alan went to run a Family Practitioner Committee in the NHS. He had successive posts at Regional Health Authority and Regional Office level and ran two Health Authorities - one during the introduction of the internal market and the other at the time of the NHS Plan and the evolution of Primary Care Trusts.

Alan then returned to the Department of Health to lead on winter planning, emergency admissions and A&E performance and then subsequently worked on Star Ratings and emergency planning.

In May 2005 Alan led the team that produced the Government's White Paper Our health, our care, our say and the 'Your Health, Your Care, Your Say' listening exercise. This sets out a strategic vision for health and social care services outside hospital based around individual needs.

Alan's last post at the Department was as Director General of Corporate Management. Alan joined the HFEA as interim Chief Executive on 1 October 2007, while Angela McNab is on a six-month secondment at the Department of Health.

 

Dr. Ursula Naue
Faculty of Social Science, Department of Political Science, University of Vienna, Austria

Speaking on: Governing dementia: policies and practices in the European and global context

Born in California, Ursula Naue studied Political Science and Communication Science at the University of Vienna and received her Master’s degree in Political Science in 2003. She earned her PhD degree in Political Science in January 2006, specialising in disability politics.

Naue also has a Master’s degree in Prehistory and Cultural Anthropology (1986) and a PhD in Prehistory (1991). She recently participated in a project contracted by the European Federation of Journalists on the topic of journalism in transition countries (in 2003). From 2004 until 2006 she participated in the project “Disability, Identity and Politics” funded by the Jubiläumsfonds of the Austrian National Bank.

Since 2005, Naue has taught courses in policy analysis and disability politics at the Department of Political Science of the University of Vienna. She is also part of the “Genes Without Borders? Towards Global Genomic Governance” project, coordinated by the Department of Political Science and the Life-Science-Governance research platform at the University of Vienna.

 

Resources

BioCentre symposium report - Comparative Approaches to European Bio-regimes and Regulation

Audio

Audio recordings of this Symposium can be downloaded here