Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology

Under article 23 of the Gene Technology Act, the Swiss Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology (ECNH) is an extra-parliamentary advisory committee, appointed to advise the Federal Council and the federal and cantonal authorities on matters of regulations and enforcement of legislation in the field of non-human biotechnology. The Federal Council established the ECNH by decree on 27 April 1998. It is administratively attached to the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) in the Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC).

Mandate

The ECNH monitors and evaluates developments in and applications of non-human biotechnology and comments from an ethical perspective on the scientific and social questions arising in this connection. It advises

a. the Federal Council on the introduction of regulations;
b. the federal and cantonal authorities on matters of enforcement. In particular, it shall comment on licence applications or research projects of fundamental or exemplary importance; for this purpose, it may inspect documents, request information and consult other experts.

It collaborates with other federal and cantonal committees concerned with questions of biotechnology. It engages in a dialogue with the public on ethical issues associated with biotechnology. It reports to the Federal Council periodically on its activities.

Members

The members of the Committee are appointed for a term of 4 years. The ECNH consists of 12 members from a range of disciplines, either specialists in ethics or coming from other fields but with a scientific or practical knowledge of ethics. Various ethical approaches also need to be represented in a balanced manner.

Chair: Georg Pfleiderer, Professor of Systematic Theology/Ethics, University of Basel
Member: Markus Arnold, Lecturer of Ethics and Director of Studies at the Institute of Religious Education, University of Lucerne
Member: Bernard Baertschi, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Philosophy and at the Institute of Biomedical Ethics CMU at the University of Geneva
Member: Monika Betzler, Chair in Practical Philosophy at the Philosophy Department, University of Berne
Member: Kurt Bürki, Director of the Institute of Laboratory Animal Science, University of Zurich
Member: Eva Gelinksy, Research assistant at ProSpecieRara, staff member of the Initia-tive for GE-free Seeds and Breeding (IG Saatgut)
Member: Martine Jotterand, former director of the cancer cytogenetics unit and Professor of Genetics, Medical Genetics Service, University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV) and University of Lausanne, since 2010 visiting Professor of Genetics at the Faculty of Biology and Medicine at the University of Lausanne. Since 1 August 2011 Honorary Professor at the University of Lausanne
Member: Cornelia Klauser-Reucker, Dr. med., general practitioner FMH, doctor in Psy-chosomatics and Psychosocial Medicine and medical hypnosis in Caslano (Canton Ticino)
Member: Matthias Mahlmann: Chair of Legal Theory, Legal Sociology and International Public Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Zurich
Member: Urs Thurnherr, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Education in Karlsruhe (Germany)
Member: Markus Wild, Assistant Researcher at the Philosophy Department, Humboldt University, Berlin (Germany)
Member: Véronique Zanetti, Professor of Ethics and Political Philosophy at the Univer-sity of Bielefeld (Germany)

The Committee members are appointed by the Federal Council for the term of office 2012-2015.

Secretariat

The Committee is assisted by a scientific secretariat, which reports to the Chair of the Committee and is administratively attached to the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN).

Publications

The most important statements issued by the Committee

The Dignity of Animals, A joint statement by the Federal Ethics Committee on Non Human Biotechnology (ECNH) and the Swiss Committee on Animal Experiments (SCAE), concerning a more concrete definition of the dignity of creation with regard to animals, 2001
Patents on Animals and Plants – A contribution to discussion, 2001
Gene Technology for Food - Ethical considerations for the marketing of genetically modified foodstuffs and animal feed, 2003
Gene Technology and Developing Countries - A contribution to the discussion from an ethical perspective, 2004
Research on Primates - an Ethical Evaluation, Report by the Swiss Committee on Animal Experiments (SCAE) and the Swiss Ethics Committee on Non Human Biotechnology (ECNH), 2006
The Dignity of Living Beings with regard to Plants. Moral consideration of plants for their own sake, 2008
Synthetic biology. Ethical considerations, 2010

Activity reports

An activity report is produced for each term of office.

1998-1999
2000-2003
2004-2007
2008-2011

"Beiträge zur Ethik und Biotechnologie" series

Expert reports commissioned by the ECNH which are of interest to a wider audience are published (in the original language) in a series entitled „Beiträge zur Ethik und Biotechnologie“ (Contributions to Ethics and Biotechnology). These reports provide a basis for consideration of the ethical aspects of biotechnology and serve as working papers for the ECNH.

Volume 1: Andreas Bachmann, Nano(bio)technologie – Eine ethische Auslegeordnung (Nano(bio)technology – An ethical review), 2006
Volume 2: Jürg Stöcklin, Die Pflanze – Moderne Konzepte der Biologie (The Plant – Modern biological concepts), 2007
Volume 3: Andreas Brenner, Leben – Eine philosophische Untersuchung (Life – A philosophical investigation), 2007
Volume 4: Benjamin Rath, Ethik des Risikos – Begriffe, Situationen, Entscheidungstheorien und Aspekte (Ethics of Risk - Concepts, situations, decision theories and other aspects), 2008
Volume 5: Joachim Boldt, Oliver Müller, Giovanni Maio, Synthetische Biologie – Eine ethisch-philosophische Analyse (Synthetic biology – an ethical and philosophical analysis), 2009
Volume 6: Bernard Baertschi. La vie artificielle. Le statut moral des êtres vivants artificiels, 2009
Volume 7: Arianna Ferrari, Christopher Coenen, Armin Grunwald, Arnold Sauter, Animal Enhancement – Neue technische Möglichkeiten und ethische Fragen, 2010
Volume 8: Peter Kunzmann, Nikolaus Knoepffler, Primaten – Ihr moralischer Status, 2011

Miscellaneous

In October 2008, the ECNH was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize for the publication of "The dignity of living beings with regard to plants - Moral consideration of plants for their own sake".