The government responded to a report by a committee of peers on genomic medicine. There was a need to ensure that the National Health Service was ready for future developments, and that new technologies were properly introduced – 'without hindrance' – from laboratory bench to bedside.
Source: Government Response to the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee Inquiry into Genomic Medicine, Cm 7757, Department of Health/TSO
Links: Response | Peers report | Hansard
Date: 2009-Dec
A new book examined the principles and values that supported an ethical approach to public health practice.
Source: Stephen Peckham and Alison Hann, Public Health Ethics and Practice, Policy Press, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Summary
Date: 2009-Nov
The Director of Public Prosecutions published (following a Court ruling) an interim policy statement identifying those factors that would be taken into account when he considered whether prosecutions would be brought in cases of assisted suicide.
Source: Interim Policy for Prosecutors in Respect of Cases of Assisted Suicide, Crown Prosecution Service (020 7796 8000)
Links: Statement | CPS press release | CofE press release | SPUC press release | Conservative Party press release | BBC report | Community Care report | Guardian report | Pulse report
Date: 2009-Sep
The Law Lords ruled that the Director of Public Prosecutions should make clear the factors that would be taken into account when deciding whether to bring a criminal prosecution in cases of assisted suicide.
Source: Purdy, R (on the application of) v Director of Public Prosecutions, UKHL 45 (Session 2008-09), House of Lords Judicial Office (020 7219 3111)
Links: Text of judgement | BHA press release | NSS press release | Telegraph report | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Jul
A report by a committee of peers said that the sequencing of the human genome, and the knowledge and technological advances that accompanied it, represented a real advance in medical care that was already starting to permeate clinical practice in mainstream specialties across the National Health Service. However, the increasing amounts of personal genetic information being generated for both research and healthcare, raised concerns about personal privacy, data security, and the potential for discrimination: these challenges needed to be faced if an appropriate balance were to be found between legitimate use of genetic information in research and protection of individual choice and privacy.
Source: Genomic Medicine, 2nd Report (Session 2008-09), HL 107, House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Pulse report
Date: 2009-Jul
A new book examined the policy issues raised by the new science of genomic medicine.
Source: Catherine Lyall, Theo Papaioannou and James Smith (eds.), The Limits to Governance: The challenge of policy-making for the new life sciences, Ashgate Publications (01235 827730)
Links: Summary
Date: 2009-Jul
An article examined the debate over the 2008 Human Fertilization and Embryology Bill. The failure of religiously motivated campaigners to alter the Bill's most substantive and controversial provisions should not be seen as a victory for a homogeneous secular camp. Attempts to secure a greater role for religion in the public sphere were likely to remain a prominent feature of political life.
Source: Steven Kettell, 'Did secularism win out? The debate over the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill', Political Quarterly, Volume 80 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Mar
