Last month the Consultative Committee on Bio-Ethics held its annual conference. The subject discussed was stem-cell research, a very controversial subject in the field of bio-ethics.

In Malta so far the field of bio-technology is mostly self-regulatory and while we have the greatest confidence in the people working in the field the line that separates practice from abuse is often very fine.

The NCW has been campaigning in favour of signing the Oviedo Convention on Bio-ethics and for regulating the field by means of legislation for a long time. In the 1990s, the NCW realised the importance of this branch of science and organised a seminar on the subject to create public awareness.

While the council is in favour of scientific progress, it is also aware of the problems that this might create in the field of human rights that may result from a conflict of interests.

Thus the announcement by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Internal Affairs Joe Borg that the Government had set in motion the machinery for signing the Oviedo Convention on Bioethics and to enact a law regulating bio-ethics in Malta was most welcome to the council.

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