Committees and commissions in the United Kingdom.

Abstract

In the United Kingdom there have been few committees or commissions dealing specifically with biomedical ethics, and where such bodies have been set up they have merely reported on a specific topic and then disbanded. However, there may well be standing committees in the future, of which the Voluntary Licensing Authority for Human In Vitro Fertilisation and Embryology is a precursor. This paper surveys the work of three special committees or working groups which have reported in the period 1970 to the present. Of these the Warnock Committee is by far the most important, and the issues which it raises are discussed with specific reference to the place of philosophers and theologians on such bodies. It is concluded that, although there has been some movement in the UK toward the utilization of those with special skills and knowledge in the field of bioethics, much more could be done in this regard.