Broadening bioethics: clinical ethics, public health and global health
Baroness Onora O’Neill gave the Council's Annual Lecture at the Royal Society of Arts on Thursday 19th May 2011.
Download a transcript of the lecture.
Watch a video of the lecture.
read more »Stem cells - Stem cells: UK developments
The discussion paper Stem cell therapy: the ethical issues was published in April 2000. Since then, many countries have announced new legislation concerning the use of stem cells and therapeutic cloning.
Therapeutic cloning
Under the 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology (HFE) Act research on embryos is permissible "to increase knowledge about the causes of congenital disease".
read more »Human tissue - Chapter downloads
You can download the individual chapters of this report using the links below. (All files are PDFs and less than 600 KB)
read more »Stem cells - Further conclusions and recommendations
We do not consider that concerns about inappropriate incentives resulting from a potential benefit deriving from the establishment of an EG (embryonic germ) cell line are so great that the donation of fetal tissue for such purposes should be prohibited.
read more »Stem cells - Key findings
The ability to culture human stem cells long term, and possibly indefinitely, and to control how such cells specialise to form the different tissues of the body offers the possibility of major advances in healthcare.
read more »Research in developing countries - Summary and conclusions
Download a PDF of Chapter 10 - Conclusions and recommendations (80 KB)
There is an urgent need for externally sponsored research in developing countries. However, rigorous ethical safeguards must be in place to prevent the exploitation of those who take part in the research.
read more »Research in developing countries - Consent
Download a PDF of Chapter 6 - Consent (90KB)
For research to be ethically acceptable, participants should be given the relevant information in a comprehensible manner, and must take part voluntarily. However, differences in social and cultural contexts in developing countries mean that some procedures may be ineffective or inappropriate. The way in which information on the potential risks and benefits of research is provided is particularly important.
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