French, German and English Ethics Committees have been holding an annual meeting for seven years. The 2016 trilateral meeting was held on 21 October in Berlin on the topic of genome editing, i.e. “new techniques in gene modification”, including CRISPR-Cas9.
The Chairpersons of each Committee have “stressed the importance of holding wide-ranging public debates on this topical subject” “to reconcile science and ethics”. They regret the fact that “ethical considerations currently have only limited impact on public debate”. Two subjects are of paramount importance for the English Committee, namely CRISPR-Cas9 applications in human medicine and “in cattle to improve breeding systems and food production“. They are working on these issues and should publish recommendations in 2017.
The next meeting will be held in Paris in June 2017.
France Diplomatie (31/10/2016)