• The study From law to practice: towards a roadmap to strengthen children's rights in the era of biomedicine, prepared by researchers from Leiden University Law School (the Netherlands), analyses the relevance of existing international and European legal principles to address the challenges posed to the rights of the child by scientific and technological developments in biomedicine and proposes, where appropriate, possible avenues for actions#
  • The study Children's rights in biomedicine, prepared by the researchers from Uppsala University Department of law (Sweden) looks at the challenges posed to the rights of the child by scientific and technological developments in biomedicine. It was used as the basis to analyse existing international legal instruments, assess their relevance to address the challenges identified and, where appropriate, define further action at intergovernmental level.
  • The report on The impact of artificial intelligence on the doctor-patient relationship, was prepared by Brent Mittelstadt, Senior Research Fellow and Director of Research at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford. The report examines AI systems regarding the doctor-patient relationship in relation to the human rights principles referred to in the European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine of 1997, otherwise known as the “Oviedo Convention”. More specifically, the report investigates the potential human rights impact of AI according to six themes: (1) Inequality in access to high quality healthcare; (2) Transparency to health professionals and patients; (3) Risk of social bias in AI systems; (4) Dilution of the patient’s account of well-being; (5) Risk of automation bias, de-skilling, and displaced liability; and (6) Impact on the right to privacy.
  • Report on Ethical Issues Raised by Emerging Sciences and Technologies was written by Roger Strand & Matthias Kaiser, Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities, University of Bergen, Norway. In the report three sets of scientific and technological developments are discussed as paradigmatic cases, labelled as neuro, nano and ICT, respectively. Further, three cross-cutting aspects are also discussed: (1) the blurring of the line between the medical and the non-medical domain, (2) the ethical issue of global divides and equitable access and (3) the particular ethical challenges of military use of technologies.
  • From Bio to NBIC convergence – From Medical Practice to Daily Life - a study, written by Rinie van Est, Dirk Stemerding, Virgil Rerimassie, Mirjam Schuijff, Jelte Timmer and Frans Brom, Rathenau Instituut. The study highlights three technological trends which might be very relevant for the Committee on Bioethics. First of all, new types of developments are observed within the medical domain: from neuro-modulation techniques to molecular medicine. The study further shows that NBIC convergence enables the application of biomedical technologies outside the professional medical domain. Finally, as a result of this development, an increasing use of biomedical tools and bio-data for non-medical purposes, like gaming, entertainment, marketing, coaching, and human or social enhancement.