국가생명윤리심의위원회의 운영에서 얻은 교훈

Abstract

On December 29, 2003, the Korean National Assembly passed the Bioethics and Biosafety Act, which came into effect in 2005. While many organizations - governmental, scientific, civic, ethical, and religious - participated in the public discussions leading up to the enactment of the Bioethics and Biosafety Act, none of these organizations was satisfied with the result once it was enacted. Many criticisms were raised, including criticisms of the National Bioethics Committee, which was established to enable all interested parties to voice their concerns concerning the bioethics legislation, to promote mutual understanding among the various parties, and to ensure that the pending legislation would be ethically sound. However, for reasons presented in this article, the Committee did not, and could not, fulfill its proper role of mediating disagreements and promoting consensus; instead, it enabled each of the various organizations concerned with the Bioethics and Biosafety Act to claim their own interests. The function of a committee is very much determined by its composition. So to understand why the National Bioethics Committee failed to function properly, one must look to its composition or organization. This article examines how the National Bioethics Committee was organized, describes its agendas and operational problems during a two-and-a-half year period, and presents a proposal for resolving those problems.