November 2002

New committee to provide advice on biotechnology

An advisory committee headed by the University of Melbourne’s Dr Christopher Cordner will provide independent advice to the Government on the social and ethical issues of biotechnology.

The formation of the Victorian Biotechnology Ethics Advisory Committee is a direct response to community concern and was flagged in Victoria’s Strategic Plan for Biotechnology.

The Committee will provide strategic advice relating to the ethics of gene technology and novel biotechnology as it applies to Victoria.

It will offer independent advice on the ethical aspects of specific policy positions under development at the national and State level.

The Committee is supported by the Department of Human Services, which has also set up a dedicated unit to manage the State regulatory system and act as a community contact point for the State Government.

Dr Cordner said the issues to be dealt with by the committee were extremely complex and the members needed to be aware of community concerns.

‘There has been significant recent media coverage of biotechnology and gene technology, keeping these issues in the public arena and on many people’s minds,’ Dr Cordner said.

‘These technologies will increasingly impact on our lives and the community wants assurances that Government is regulating the development of this technology in a transparent and accountable way.’

The first meeting of the committee provided members with detailed background information on the national gene technology regulatory framework and began the development of a comprehensive Victorian Code of Ethical Practice for Biotechnology.

The committee is made up of four lay people and others with expertise in the areas of community advocacy, biomedicine, applied ethics, religion, animal welfare, agriculture, environment and law.

Members come from both metropolitan and rural Victoria.

They are Dr Christopher Cordner, Chair, Senior Lecturer in Moral Philosophy, University of Melbourne; Dr Dimitrios Bairaktaris, layman with experience in the information technology sector; Richard Reilly, layman with knowledge of federal regulatory environment; Kim Sweetnam, laywoman with experience in rural media; Lizabeth McNeil, laywoman working with intellectually disabled persons in the Warrnambool area; Elaine Nyberg, community advocacy; Ainsley Newsom, a qualified bioethicist with experience in applied ethics; Assistant Professor Marjorie Dunlop, Chair of the Department of Human Services Human Research Ethics Committee with knowledge of medical research; Aviva Kipen, minister of religion; Meg Parkinson, a farmer in South Gippsland and a member of a university Animal Ethics Committee; Veronica McGowan, public relations consultant; Professor E.W.R. (Snow) Barlow, Head, School of Agricultural and Food Systems, Institute of Land and Food Resources, the University of Melbourne; Dr Peter Temple-Smith, environmental advocacy; Mark Richardson, lawyer; Dr Robert Hall, Director, Public Health, Department of Human Services, Chief Health Officer and Chair of the Biotechnology Safety and Ethics Interdepartmental Committee.