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Task Force on Ethics (TF-E)

 Membership

 

Name	Position	Country	Term	Time in Office
D. Bruns	Chair	US	2nd	2011 01 - 2013 12
C. Burtis	Member	US	2nd	2012 01 - 2014 12
J.J. Jonsson	Member	IS	extra term	2012 01 - 2012 12
A. Newman	Member	NL	2nd	2012 01 - 2014 12
M.J. McQueen	Consultant	CA

Aims

• To increase awareness among Laboratory Medicine Professionals of ethical issues
• To encourage the practice of Laboratory Medicine to the highest ethical standards
• To develop position papers on appropriate ethics policies issues
• To provide a voice for Laboratory Medicine on ethics policies
• To link Laboratory Medicine, ethics and the public interest

Objectives

• Recognising that IFCC is formed by representatives from Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine in more than 70 countries plus more than 30 corporate members, it is unlikely that position papers will have the complete agreement of all of our members. They are position papers and should not be put to a vote. The objective is to produce a statement with widespread support from the members of the Federation
• A secondary objective is to ensure that each paper is published in professional journal(s) and that it is also made available to the general public

Background

During the term 1997-1999, the EB of the IFCC accepted the principle of establishing an Ethics Committee. It was identified that the greatest need was not for a Committee that would look inwardly at personal and professional ethics or codes of behaviour, since these can best be dealt with at the level of the individual society or country. During the past 20 years there has been an increasing number of pre-symptomatic tests that can be offered to the community. Some of the challenges have been in laboratory organisation and testing but these are minor compared to broader issues affecting those targeted for screening and the general community. DNA testing combined with newer genetic and biochemical techniques raise significant issues of community awareness, education, informed consent and pre- and post-test counselling. The genetic information stored and used must also have safeguards that ensure there are no stigmatisation and discrimination issues. In various parts of the world individual professional organisations have raised awareness of these issues among their members and have produced documents addressing some of the key issues. In general, the Laboratory Medicine community has not provided organised discussion in which the members can actively participate. There has been even less effort at the international level to create a collective voice for Laboratory Medicine. Laboratory Medicine organisations have a goal and responsibility to advance the interest of their members but the IFCC strategic vision also clearly states that the ultimate goal is to benefit the health and well-being of the patients and communities we serve. This test of our professional responsibility demands that we do not simply perform tests and use technology uncritically. We cannot be isolated from the impact of our work on society.

The Task Force on Ethics has recently produced a document on "Publication Ethics and Ethics in Science". It can be downloaded by clicking on this link.

List of Addresses

Prof. David E BRUNS
Department of Pathology
University of Virginia Medical School
P O Box 800214
Charlottesville , Virginia 22908
USA
Tel: +1 434 924 9432
Fax: +1 434 924 2574

Dr. Carl BURTIS
Oak Ridge National Lab
Bethel Valley Road
Bldg 4500 N MS 6220
Oak Ridge , TN 37831-6220
USA
Tel: +1 865 576 -2917

Prof. Matthew J McQUEEN
Hamilton General Hospital
237 Barton Street East
Hamilton , Ontario , L8L 2X2 ,
Canada
Tel: +1 905 527 4322, Ext. 46100.
Fax: +1 905 577 8027

Prof. Jon J. JONSSON
Division of Biochemistry,
Clinical Biochemistry and
Medical Genetics
University of Iceland Faculty of Medicine
IS-I01 Reykjavik
Iceland
Tel: +354 698 5995
Fax: +354 525 4886

Dr. Anthony NEWMAN
Publisher, Clinical Chemistry programme,
Life Sciences Dept., Elsevier,
Radarweg 29, 1043 NX Amsterdam,
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 20 485 3376
Fax. +31 20 485 3342