Volume 2, Issue 4

JIBL’s issue 4 starts with an extension of its Editorial Board. It is my pleasure to welcome Professor Donald Chalmers amongst the members of our Board. Donald Chalmers is one of the outstanding experts in the field of biotechnology law and regulation and therefore barely needs an introduction. His current positions as Dean and Head of the University of Tasmania’s Law School, Chair of the Commonwealth of Australia Gene Technology Ethics Committee, Deputy Chair of the Embryo Research Licensing Committee, Chair of the Australian Red Cross Ethics Committee, Board member of the Australian Institute of Family Studies and Chair of the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Health Law and Ethics, as well as his former appointments as Consultant to the United States and the WHO, give an impression of his manifold interests and activities. We are very much looking forward to his contributions to this journal !

Introduction The European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine of 1997 (“Oviedo Convention“) is the best current example of how to promote the protection of human rights in the biomedical field at a transnational level. The importance of this instrument lies in the fact that it is the first comprehensive multilateral treaty addressing biomedical human rights issues. Certainly, some of the principles it contains were already included in more general terms in previous international human rights treaties, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966 and the European Convention on Human Rights of 1950 (e.g. the rights to life, to physical integrity and to privacy, the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment and of any form of discrimination). However, this is the first time that these rights have been developed and assembled in one single multilateral binding instrument entirely devoted to biomedical issues. The purpose of this paper is, first, to give an overview of the history of the Convention; second, to present its general characteristics; and finally to summarize its key provisions.

Introduction Plant genetic resources – seeds and other genetic materials containing functional units of heredity of actual or potential use – are the biological foundation of agriculture, the raw material of plant breeding, and an increasingly important component in biotechnology research and product development. The conditions under which plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) may be accessed and used is therefore of critical importance to broad segments of the economy, to academic and applied researchers, to the legal profession, and to important social concerns such as achieving food security. Each year, hundreds of thousands of samples of PGRFA are distributed to researchers and breeders by genebanks and crop breeding programmes, arguably making this resource the most commonly exchanged of biological materials for research and development purposes in the academic and commercial world.

Introduction Should Mohammed go to the mountain or should the mountain come to Mohammed? For indigenous groups around the world who have watched their knowledge and way of life erode from outside forces, they want the mountain to come to them for a change and they are demanding that the current global intellectual property rules be adjusted to protect their traditional knowledge instead of them trying to fit into a system that was never designed with their needs in mind. Most experts agree that traditional knowledge— the local know-how to use plants and animals for therapeutic, medicinal or artisan purposes—cannot be easily protected under current international law. But for the world’s poorest, traditional knowledge is the foundation of many services that they could not otherwise afford. For example, medical treatment based on traditional knowledge meets about 80% of their daily healthcare needs.

Background As one of the so called megadiversity countries, Australia hosts an estimated 10–13 % of the total biodiversity of the planet. Its biological resources include plants, animals and microorganisms living on land, below ground, in inland waters, and at sea. Australia’s bioregions span a range of climates from tropical to Antarctic and from dry to wet. In addition, about 75 % of Australian species are endemic. Unlike most of the other megadiversity states, the Australian industry also provides the means which are necessary to exploit plant and animal genetic resources. Currently, Australia has a relatively immature bioprospecting industry, in which only a small number of companies and organisations are involved. This situation is very likely to be changed in the foreseeable future, though.

Introduction Part 1 of this article describing the EU new regulatory framework for GM food was published in the last issue of this journal. Part 1 dealt with the new authorisation procedure. In that context some attention was given to the developments that led to the new framework and to administrative review. The main topics discussed in this final part are the traceability requirements and labelling requirements. These are followed by supervision and emergency measures. At the end transitional measures are treated.

Introduction Medical Sciences Faculties along with other Associations and the Department of Bioethics and Medical Law have conducted lately debates about Euthanasia. The need to bestow quality and dignity en every phase of life namely when one faces death has been particularly focused. Even on a terminal phase of life people may live with quality and discover the dimension of their own suffering meaning the understanding of positive factors underlying the concept of pain. In Portugal Ethical Committees are endorsed not only to medical scientists, lawyers, lay associations but to priests who happen to preside to some of these Ethical Committees.

Introduction Euthanasia is an old topic with traditional wisdom stating that everyone should have right to choose the mean of death. In China, there are always arguments about the two extremes of the land of living – birth and death. With the study of birth, which gives rise to eugenics, the study of death has touched off a rational discussion, that is, whether or not people have a right to opt for death; that is also, to take the value of life and sustain dignity in the last moment of life.

From 10-12 May around 1000 professionals came to Wiesbaden for BioPerspectives 2005, an event jointly organized by 16 different bodies. Besides the traditional DECHEMA Annual Meetings, for the first time the annual meeting of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Proteomforschung (German Society for Proteom Research) took place here. The fact that Switzerland was a partner and that the European BREW Project on White Biotechnology was presented made this an event with a strong international bias. “This development is extremely gratifying; it shows that the BioPerspectives concept meets a real need”, said Prof. Alfred Pühler of the University of Bielefeld, chairman of DECHEMA’s Biotechnology Research Committee and Congress chair, in his opening address. It was the declared aim to bring together experts from different disciplines, thus providing as broad a basis as possible for the exchange of ideas and experience and for networking. “It is a wellknown fact that innovations arise at the interfaces of different fields; for this reason we make it a priority to represent the cross-disciplinary character of biotechnology at BioPerspectives”, he stressed.