josepine-fernow2We live in a global society, which means there are several actors that regulate both research and services directed at consumers. It is time again for our newsletter on current issues in biobank ethics and law. This time, Biobank Perspectives  lets you read about the legal aspects of direct-to-consumer genetic testing. Santa Slokenberga writes about her doctoral dissertation in law from Uppsala University and how the Council of Europe and the EU interact with each other and the legal systems in the member states. She believes direct-to-consumer genetic testing can be seen as a “test” of the European legal orders, showing us that there is need for formal cooperation and convergence as seemingly small matters can lead to large consequences.

We also follow up from a previous report on the General Data Protection Regulation in a Swedish perspective with more information about the Swedish Research Data Inquiry. We are also happy to announce that a group of researchers from the University of Oxford, University of Iceland, University of Oslo and the Centre for Research Ethics & Bioethics at Uppsala University received a Nordforsk grant to find solutions for governance of the “health cyberspace” that is emerging from assembling and using existing data for new purposes. To read more, download a pdf of the latest issue (4:2016), or visit the Biobank Perspectives site for more ethical and legal perspectives on biobank and registry research.

Josepine Fernow

This post in Swedish

Approaching future issues - the Ethics Blog