Broadening bioethics: clinical ethics, public health and global health

24 May 2011

Baroness Onora O’Neill gave the Council's Annual Lecture at the Royal Society of Arts on Thursday 19th May 2011.

Download a transcript of the lecture.

Watch a video of the lecture.

New resources for teachers: case studies in 'personalised healthcare'

6 May 2011

The Council has published new teaching resources based on its report on the ethical issues arising from new types of ‘personalised healthcare'.

This set of resources includes three case studies:

• Personal genetic profiling- people can pay for a DNA-analysis service to find out their personal susceptibility to certain diseases and conditions

• Buying medicines online - a range of medicines are available to order on the internet, either with, or without a prescription

Biofuels article in Science mag

14 April 2011

A Policy Forum article has been published in Science magazine which discussed the findings of the Council's recent report on biofuels.

Current biofuels policies are unethical, says report

Press Release

13 April 2011

Current UK and European policies on biofuels encourage unethical practices, says a report by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics today following an 18-month inquiry. Policies such as the European Renewable Energy Directive are particularly weak when it comes to protecting the environment, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and avoiding human rights violations in developing countries. They also include few incentives for the development of new biofuel technologies that could help avoid these problems.

Consultation on emerging biotechnologies

4 April 2011

The Council has launched a call for views and evidence on the ethical issues raised by emerging biotechnologies. By looking at both current examples, such as synthetic biology and nanotechnology, and taking lessons from older cases, such as GM crops and IVF, the Council is interested in the way society and policy makers respond to new biotechnologies and how benefits from these technologies can be secured in an ethically appropriate manner.

The deadline for responses is 15 June 2011.

Spring UPDATE newsletter

1 April 2011

Read about the activities of the Council in the spring edition of UPDATE.

BBC documentary on premature babies

10 March 2011

Last night, Adam Wishart's BBC2 documentary '23 Weeks: The Price of Life' looked at the very difficult decisions faced by parents and doctors about the care and treatment of extremely premature babies. The Nuffield Council on Bioethics considered some of these issues in its report Critical care decisions in fetal and neonatal medicine: ethical issues.

In response to the programme, Hugh Whittall, Director of the Council, said:

'Biofuels: ethical issues' report launch

1 March 2011

The Council will publish a report on the ethical issues raised by biofuels on 13 April 2011.

This report follows an 18-month inquiry chaired by Professor Joyce Tait, Scientific Adviser to the Innogen Centre at Edinburgh University.

Fellowship on solidarity in bioethics

16 February 2011

We are delighted to announce that Dr Barbara Prainsack has started a six month fellowship working with the Council on the theme of “Solidarity as a core value in contemporary bioethics”.

Proposed DNA Database changes in line with Council report

11 February 2011

The Government’s Protection of Freedoms Bill proposes a number of changes to the way people’s DNA is stored on the National DNA Database, in line with recommendations made by the Council in 2007.

Under changes announced today, DNA profiles and fingerprints taken from people who have been arrested but never charged or convicted of a crime will be destroyed. Previously, police had powers to keep these records indefinitely.