News : The German National Ethics Council calls for biobanks regulation

On June 15, 2010, the German National Ethics Council has published a position paper on the legal regulation of research biobanks and human biological databases.

In this document, it stresses the need to protect  existing samples and associated personal data within a clear law. This legal protection is even more important that donors are more easily identifiable from the samples and that the use and marketing of data by a third person become more frequent.

The purpose of these recommendations is to create a legal framework guaranteeing both the rights and interests of individual donors, and facilitating the use of biobanks in biomedical research.

The position of the German National Ethics Council consists of five major proposals: the introduction of a "professional secrecy for biobanks", establishment of authorisations to use, the association of Ethics Committees, the quality and transparency assurance. In addition, the board voted in favor of the establishment of international standards that guarantee, among other, professional secrecy in the exchange of samples or biological data with foreign partners.

You can consult the related press release in German as well as in English languages.

The original document is now available directly from the hSERN's Germany Regulation part.

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