§ Lord Ashbourneasked Her Majesty's Government:
What organisations in Britain were consulted about the provisions of what is now the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, and Britain's adherence to it.
§ Baroness CumberlegeThe Council of Europe issued a consultation draft in 1994, on which the Government sought views from the following organisations: Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, Association of Community Health Councils for England and Wales, Association of Medical Research Charities, British Association of Occupational Therapists, British In-Vitro Diagnostics Association, BioIndustry Association, British Medical Association, British Pharma Group, British Psychological Society, Bulletin of Medical Ethics, Confederation of British Industry, General Medical Council, General Medical Services Committee, Health Visitors Association, Joint Committee of Professional Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting Associations, Joint Consultants Committee, Law Commission, Law Society, Medical Research Council, National Council for Nursing Ethics, Nuffield Council of Bioethics, Patients' Association, Public Health Consultative Committee, the Royal College of Anaesthetists, General Practitioners, Ophthalmologists, Obstetricians and Gynaecologists,182WA Pathologists, Physicians, Psychiatrists, Radiologists, and Surgeons; the Royal College of Midwives, Royal College of Nursing, and the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting.
The current draft Council of Europe Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine has yet to be considered by the Committee of Ministers, who have the right to amend the text.
§ Lord Ashbourneasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they support Article 17.2 of the Council of Europe Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine (formerly known as the European Bioethics Convention), permitting the use of human subjects who cannot give valid consent for scientific research which is not for their own direct benefit.
§ Baroness CumberlegeThe Government recognise that without such research, undertaken only with strict safeguards, it is not possible to improve knowledge of the causes of childhood disease or of diseases and disorders causing mental incapacity. The Government support the present draft of Article 17.2.