Ethics Law And Governance Of Biobanking

Biobank research and genomic information are changing the way we look at health and medicine. Genomics challenges our values and has always been controversial and difficult to regulate. In the future lies the promise of tailored medical treatments and pharmacogenomics but the borders between medical research and clinical practice are becoming blurred. We see sequencing platforms for research that can have diagnostic value for patients. Clinical applications and research have been kept separate, but the blurring lines challenges existing regulations and ethical frameworks. Then how do we regulate it? This book contains an overview of the existing regulatory landscape for biobank research in the Western world and some critical chapters to show how regulations and ethical frameworks are developed and work. How should international sharing work? How design an ethical informed consent? An underlying critique: the regulatory systems are becoming increasingly complex and opaque. The international community is building systems that should respond to that. According to the authors in fact, it is time to turn the ship around. Biobank researchers have a moral responsibility to look at and assess their work in relation to the bigger picture: the shared norms and values of current society. Research ethics shouldn’t only be a matter of bioethicists writing guidelines that professionals have to follow. Ethics should be practiced through discourse and regulatory frameworks need to be part of that public discourse. Ethics review should be then not merely application of bureaucracy and a burden for researchers but an arena where researchers discuss their projects, receive advice and practice their ethics skills.

The book is a collection of papers presented during an international conference, held in Leuven May 18-20, 2009, organized by the Centre for Biomedical Ethics and Law of the Catholic University of Leuven and the GeneBanC project.

Biobanks are promising instruments of biomedical research and of transnational medicine in particular. Ethical, legal and social issues associated with biobanking, however, have recently led to a more critical view on this concept. All efforts addressing these concerns have been grounded on well-established standards of biomedical ethics such as informed consent procedures, protection of individual autonomy, benefit sharing etc. By additionally highlighting the widely neglected aspect of trust, this book aims at broadening the horizon of the ELSI-debate and thus filling a gap in current research on biobanking. The contributions of leading experts and junior researchers cover a wide field of disciplines relevant for biobanking including law, ethics, medicine, public health, social sciences, philosophy and theology.

Part I Setting the scene -- Introduction: Individual rights, the public interest and biobank research 4000 (8) -- Genetic data and privacy protection -- Part II GDPR and European responses -- Biobank governance and the impact of the GDPR on the regulation of biobank research -- Controller' and processor's responsibilities in biobank research under GDPR -- Individual rights in biobank research under GDPR -- Safeguards and derogations relating to processing for archiving purposes in the scientific purposes: Article 89 analysis for biobank research -- A Pan-European analysis of Article 89 implementation and national biobank research regulations -- EEA, Switzerland analysis of GDPR requirements and national biobank research regulations -- Part III National insights in biobank regulatory frameworks -- Selected 10-15 countries for reports: Germany -- Greece -- France -- Finland -- Sweden -- United Kingdom -- Part IV Conclusions -- Reflections on individual rights, the public interest and biobank research, ramifications and ways forward. .

Rapid technological advances, the establishment of large-scale biobanks, and the exchange of data across international boundaries raise a variety of questions for regulators struggling with the problem of how to govern such stores of information and the processes connected with them. Engaging with the pressing issues of privacy, consent, access to data, and benefit sharing, Principles and Practice in Biobank Governance draws together the latest empirical research from the UK, Europe, America, Australia and Asia to focus on these challenges. Current models of governance are critiqued, principles and policies are debated, and new models and theoretical frameworks are presented through this intellectually stimulating, informative volume. This truly international volume offers new insights from a range of disciplinary perspectives and will be essential reading for policy makers and scholars across a range of social sciences, including sociology, bioethics, law and social policy.

Rapid technological advances, the establishment of large-scale biobanks, and the exchange of data across international boundaries raise a variety of questions for regulators struggling with the problem of how to govern such stores of information and the processes connected with them. Engaging with the pressing issues of privacy, consent, access to data, and benefit sharing, Principles and Practice in Biobank Governance draws together the latest empirical research from the UK, Europe, America, Australia and Asia to focus on these challenges. Current models of governance are critiqued, principles and policies are debated, and new models and theoretical frameworks are presented through this intellectually stimulating, informative volume. This truly international volume offers new insights from a range of disciplinary perspectives and will be essential reading for policy makers and scholars across a range of social sciences, including sociology, bioethics, law and social policy.

"Human tissue and biobank research is of increasing importance for understanding the causes of widespread diseases and developing effective therapies. However, while the success of biobank research depends on the availability of a large number of samples and the consolidation of collections across country borders is very desirable from the perspective of researchers, the legal and ethical requirements for the procurement, storage and use of human tissue samples are rather heterogeneous across different countries. Moreover, the lack of comprehensive supranational regulation on human tissue and biobanking can be seen as posing a serious threat to transnational biomedical research. Against this background, it was one of the aims of the EU-funded Tiss.EU project ('Evaluation of Legislation and Related Guidelines on the Procurement, Storage and Transfer of Human Tissues and Cells in the European Union--an Evidence-Based Impact Analysis') to analyse the ethical and legal regulation of human tissue and biobank research across the 27 European Member States plus Switzerland. The results of nine international workshops and three conferences are gathered in this volume. While the country reports evaluate the implementation of ethical and legal guidelines at a national level, point out their strengths and deficits, and, where required, create an evidence base for the revision of said legislation, the conference reports address more general ethical and legal issues in this field. The volume is completed by a final presentation of project's results"--Publisher's description

Biobanks are proliferating rapidly worldwide because they are powerful tools and organisational structures for undertaking medical research. By linking samples to data on the health of individuals, it is anticipated that biobanks will be used to explore the relationship between genes, environment and lifestyle for many diseases, as well as the potential of individually-tailored drug treatments based on genetic predisposition. However, they also raise considerable challenges for existing legal frameworks and research governance structures. This book critically examines the current governance structures in place for biobanks in England and Wales. It shows that the technologies, techniques and practices involved in biobanking do not always conform neatly to existing legal principles and frameworks that apply to other areas of medical research. Using a socio-legal approach, including interview data gathered from the scientific community, this book provides unique insights and makes recommendations about appropriate governance mechanisms for biobanking in the future. It also explores the issues around the secondary use of information, such as consent and how to protect privacy, when biobanks are accessed by a number of different third parties. These issues have relevance both within England and Wales and to a wide international audience, as well as for other areas where large datasets are used.