Minutes of the Meeting held on 17 March 2005
Wed, 26 October 2005
Council (05) 2nd Meeting
NUFFIELD COUNCIL ON BIOETHICS
Minutes of the Meeting held at 28 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3JS on 17 March 2005 at 10.30 am
PRESENT:
Professor Sir Bob Hepple QC FBA (Chairman)
Professor Catherine Peckham (Deputy Chair)
Professor Tom Baldwin
Professor Margot Brazier
Professor Roger Brownsword
Professor Sir Kenneth Calman
The Rt Reverend Richard Harries
Professor Peter Lipton
Lord Plant of Highfield
Professor Martin Raff
Mr Nick Ross
Professor Dame Marilyn Strathern
Professor Herbert Sewell
Professor Peter Smith
Baroness Perry of Southwark
Dr Alan Williamson
APOLOGIES:
Professor Peter Harper, Professor Sir Kenneth Calman and Professor Herbert Sewell
SECRETARIAT
Dr Sandy Thomas, Dr Catherine Moody, Harald Schmidt, Julia Fox, Catherine Joynson, Caroline Rogers, Elaine Talaat-Abdalla and Mun-Keat Looi
The Chairman reported to the Council that the Director had been awarded a Professorship by the University of Sussex in recognition of her international work. Members offered their congratulations to Dr Thomas.
This was the final meeting that Nick Ross and Professor Martin Raff would attend as members of the Council. Both would return later in the year for a formal farewell, but in the meantime, members wished to express thanks for their excellent service over the past six years. Lady Perry would also be retiring from membership of the Council, as Chair of the Working Party on the ethics of research involving animals. Again, formal farewell arrangements would be made, but members wished to record their gratitude for her considerable skill and expertise in chairing the Working Party on the ethics of research involving animals.
Finally, the Council noted with great regret that Julia Fox, the Administrator to the Council, would be retiring the following week. Her dedication, thoughtfulness and consistent approach had ensured the smooth running of Council business for the past seven years. She would be greatly missed. Her successor was Carol Perkins, who would take up the post on 11th April 2005.
MINUTES OF (05) 1st MEETING
1 It was agreed that the Minutes were an accurate record of the meeting held on 20 January.
MATTERS ARISING
2 There were no matters arising, other than those itemised on the agenda.
CHAIRMAN’S ITEMS
MEMBERSHIP
Council (05) 12
3 The Chairman introduced this paper, which reflected the advice of the Subgroup on Membership. The Subgroup was recommending adoption of a new procedure for the recruitment of new Council members that was more democratic and transparent. The procedure centred on appointment in response to an annual advertisement placed in the national press, in keeping with the practice of other national bodies. Members agreed that the paper was helpful and endorsed the new procedure, subject to review in the light of experience.
4 The Council asked for every attempt to be made to attract applications from able, experienced lay people with a broad outlook. Their inclusion could only enrich Council discussions. It was further agreed that the application should consist of a short curriculum vitae and a statement of interest explaining why the candidate regarded themselves as suitable.
FORWARD LOOK MEETING 2005
Council (05) 13
5 The Chairman reported that discussions had been taking place with Professor Norman Daniels regarding the theme for his presentation on 11 May. It was agreed he should be invited to speak on ‘Global Health Inequalities’.
6 Three discussants would be required for the main meeting, to be held on the day following the Lecture. It was agreed that Dr Bettina SchÖne-Seifert, Professor of Bioethics, Munster University should be invited. The Council noted that the concluding session of the meeting would be used to identify future topics.
MAIN BUSINESS
WORKING PARTY ON THE ETHICS OF INVOLVING ANIMALS RESEARCH
Council (05) 14
7 The Chair of the Working Party thanked the Subgroup of the Council for providing comments on the final draft Report, which had been revised by the Secretariat. The final version of the executive summary would soon be circulated.
8 The report on The ethics of research involving animals provided a useful overview of scientific and ethical issues and would help people to think through the issues for themselves. This would be of assistance in a debate where much of the information available was produced by groups that had vested interests. The Report demonstrated that it would be wrong to assume a complete polarisation of views; rather, there was more of a spectrum. It also showed that, despite profound disagreement, there was considerable ‘common ground’.
HRRDCII SOUTH AFRICA
9 The Discussion Paper on The Ethics of research related to healthcare in developing countries would be launched that day, shortly after the Council meeting. There would be presentations from the Chairman and two members of the Council and from a representative of the Wellcome Trust, which was simultaneously launching its own guidelines. On the following day, the Director would present the Report at the Global Forum on Bioethics in Research, Malawi. The Chairman thanked the Secretariat staff for their hard work in bringing the Paper to publication and in particular for the substantial contributions made by the former Public Liaison Manager Nicola Perrin and the current Research Officer, Caroline Rogers.
WORKING PARTY ON THE ETHICS OF PROLONGING LIFE IN FETUSES AND THE NEWBORN
Council (05) 15
10 Professor Margot Brazier reported that the Working Party was making good progress, which was a tribute to the commitment of members. The consultation document had been launched on the 10th March and there was a facility for people to respond using the Council’s website. Fact-finding meetings to neonatal units in Nottingham and Manchester had been arranged. In response to a query, Professor Brazier confirmed that the Working Party would also be examining practice in other countries in Europe.
WORKSHOP ON THE ETHICS OF PUBLIC HEALTH Council (05) 16
11 The Council discussed possible members for the Working Party.
DIRECTOR’S REPORT
FIVE YEAR FUNDING BID
Council (05) 17
12 The Director reported that the Subgroup of the Council had provided guidance that had been used to prepare the proposed outline. A full draft proposal would be presented at the June meeting where it would be the main agenda item. The Secretariat was in the meantime collecting evidence to demonstrate the impact of the Council. Members noted progress. There followed some discussion about the forthcoming report on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act from the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, which would be published the following week.
2ND BI-LATERIAL MEETING WITH COMITÉ CONSULTATIF NATIONAL D'ETHIQUE, FRANCE
Council (05) 18
13 The Council agreed that this had been a stimulating and worthwhile meeting. Members were invited to send any revisions to the draft note to the Deputy Director prior to circulation to CCNE. The main focus of the meeting had been genetic screening. The ethics of using bioinformation had emerged as an area of common interest where there was a lack of independent discussion in both countries. Potentially the subject would be also be of interest to Nationaler Ethikrat. This subject was revisited as a separate agenda item (see paragraph 18 below).
GENETIC SCREENING
Council (05) 19
14 The Deputy Director thanked members for their comments on the draft Discussion Paper, which had now been sent for peer review. The comments received would be incorporated in discussion with the Steering Group followed by further updating of the Paper. The final draft would be circulated to the Council for approval in the summer.
POSSIBLE WORKSHOP: BIOINFORMATION FOR FORENSIC PURPOSES
15 The Council explored the proposal that a workshop should be held on the use of bioinformation for forensic purposes, the output of which might be published as a Discussion Paper. This idea had arisen initially during discussion with the CCNE over genetic screening. It was agreed that a one-day workshop should be organised by the Secretariat, with representation from the French and German National Bioethics Committees. A feature of the debate should be comparisons between the ethical approach of the three countries. The terms of reference for the discussions would need to be drawn up carefully to ensure that the focus was upon forensic use, rather than the many other types of use of information by governments.
TO REPORT
BIOETHICS BRIEFING: ACTIVITIES OF OTHER ORGANISATIONS
Council (05) 20
16 The Briefing was received and noted.
DELCARATION ON UNIVERSAL NORMS ON BIOETHICS BY THE INTERNATIONAL BIOETHICS COMMITTEE OF UNESCO
Council (05) 21
17 The Assistant Director updated Council members on progress in drafting the Declaration, which was due to be finalised in the Autumn of 2005. Further comments had been submitted at a meeting by the IBC in January, and the Subgroup was currently considering the most recent version. The Secretariat would liaise with the Department on Health to discuss how best to contribute to the finalisation of the Declaration over the coming months.
FINANCIAL REPORT: MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTS TO 31 DECEMBER 2004
Council (05) 22
18 The Management Accounts for the period up to 31 December 2004 were received and noted. They reflected the anticipated out-turn for the year end.
COUNCIL’S REVISED DRAFT WORK PLAN FOR 2005
Council (05) 23
19 The Council’s revised Draft Work Plan was received and noted.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
20 No new items were raised.
QUARTERLY BULLETIN
Information (05) 03
21 For information.
WEB REPORT
Information (05) 04
22 The web report figures were noted.
MEETING DATES FOR 2005
(all commencing at 10.30 am)
Wednesday 22 June
Wednesday 19 October
Forward Look event: evening event Wednesday 11 May and full-day meeting Thursday 12 May
MEETING DATES FOR 2006
(all commencing at 10.30 am)
Wednesday 18 January
Thursday 23 March
Wednesday 21 June
Thursday 19 October
Forward Look event: Thursday 11 May
All meetings will be held at 28 Bedford Square.
Last Updated Thu, 27 October 2005