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

Swiss Federal Council

The Federal Council is the seven-member executive council which constitutes the federal government of Switzerland and serves as the Swiss collective head of state....

 and the federal and cantonal authorities on matters of regulations and enforcement of legislation in the field of non-human biotechnology

Biotechnology

Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...

. 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

Swiss Federal Council

The Federal Council is the seven-member executive council which constitutes the federal government of Switzerland and serves as the Swiss collective head of state....

 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

Ethics

Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...

. Various ethical approaches also need to be represented in a balanced manner.

• Chair: Klaus Peter Rippe, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Education, Karlsruhe (Germany) and director of the „Ethik im Diskurs“ consulting company, Zurich.
• Member: Bernard Baertschi, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Geneva
• Member: Kurt Bürki, Professor, Director of the Institute of Laboratory Animal Science, Zurich University
• Member: Martine Jotterand, Associate Professor of Cytogenetics, University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV)
  University Hospital of Lausanne
  The University Hospital of Lausanne , in Lausanne, is one of the five university hospitals in Switzerland.- External link :...
  
  , Lausanne
• Member: Cornelia Klauser-Reucker, MD, general practitioner, Caslano (Canton Ticino)
• Member: Florianne Koechlin, Biologist, Swiss Working Group on Gene Technology SAG, Blueridge Institute
• Member: Hans Jürgen Münk, Professor em. of Theological Ethics and Director of the Institute for Social Ethics at the University of Lucerne
• Member: Georg Pfleiderer, Professor of Systematic Theology and Ethics at the University of Basel
• Member: Beat Sitter-Liver, Professor of Practical Philosophy at the University of Fribourg and Lecturer at the University of Basel
• Member: Markus Schefer, Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Basel
• Member: Urs Thurnherr, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Education, Karlsruhe (Germany)
• Member: Veronique Zanetti
  Veronique Zanetti
  Veronique Zanetti was born 1959. She is currently professor of Political Philosophy at Faculty of History, Philosophy, and Theology, Bielefeld University.-Academia:...
  
  , Professor of Ethics and Political Philosophy at Bielefeld University (Germany)

All Committee members are appointed by the Federal Council for the term of office ending on 31 December 2011.

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).

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

"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

Miscellaneous

In October 2008, the ECNH was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize

Ig Nobel Prize

The Ig Nobel Prizes are an American parody of the Nobel Prizes and are given each year in early October for ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. The stated aim of the prizes is to "first make people laugh, and then make them think"...

for the publication of "The Dignity of Living Beings with regard to Plants - Moral consideration of plants for their own sake".

External links

• Website of the Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology
• Swiss federal extra-parliamentary commissions (in German, French or Italian
• The Federal Authorities of the Swiss Confederation
• The Gene Technology Act (GTA, in German, French or Italian)