Toi Te Taiao: The Bioethics Council meeting minutes - 16 April 2007

Held at Wellington Airport Conference Centre, Wellington

Present:

• Helen Bichan (Acting Chair),
• Waiora Port,
• Eamon Daly (from 11.30),
• Rosemary Du Plessis,
• Chris Cunningham,
• Mark Fisher,
• Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop (to 2pm),
• John Pennington,
• Cordelia Thomas,
• Simon Wright.

16 April

The meeting commenced at 9.30 a.m.

Apologies: Martin Wilkinson and Marie Bismark.

John said that a prospective new Council Member had been scheduled to be at the meeting, but, due to travel problems, was not now able to attend. He would speak to that person further during the week about his joining the Council.

Karakia and Welcome

Helen, as Acting Chair, welcomed everyone to the meeting, and Chris gave a karakia.

Minutes from Previous Council Meeting

That the minutes of the meeting held on 20 and 21 February 2007 be accepted as a true and correct record and be placed on the website, subject to Council Members looking at them again to see whether there are any matters to be corrected, and subject to the usual modifications.
Helen Bichan / Rosemary de Plessis
CARRIED

Matters Arising from Previous Minutes (including outstanding items from Action List)

• Budget Workshop Group
  The Budget Working Group would be meeting Tuesday 17 April.


• Human Rights Commission
  The Human Rights Commission had not yet finalised its work programme, and Cordelia was still to meet with the commission to talk about that work programme.
  Action: Cordelia


• Replacement for Chappie
  John said that he was now able to draw up a job description and advertise for a replacement for Chappie.
  Action: John


• Sponsorship for New Zealand Schools Debating
  Simon said that a bioethics topic had been very enthusiastically debated in the first round of the regional debating championships in Nelson and Marlborough. He would find out the dates of the other regional competitions and advise Council Members.
  Action: Simon
  
  Peggy wondered whether there was a possibility of the Council participating in some way in the Wellington Pasifika secondary schools speech contest. She would send a one-page proposal on it to the Secretariat.
  Action: Peggy


• Strategic Approach to Dialogue with Maori and Pasifika Communities
  This proposal by Huria Anders could not be explored further until Council had a functioning Maori Working Group. In the meantime, it would be kept on the Council’s agenda.
  Action: John


• Criteria for Council’s Decision-making
  Council noted the criteria for decision-making on projects and new topics.


• “How to Encourage Public Engagement in Technology-related Dialogue Processes”
  This Action Item was deferred.


• Disability Symposium
  Eamon had yet to provide a proposal and budget. This item was outstanding on the Action List.


• Draft Guidelines on Funding Sponsorship
  Council discussed whether decisions should be made case by case or whether Council should have guidelines to follow. The Secretariat was asked to look at the Ministry’s sponsorship guidelines, and the Acting Chair said she would find a set of guidelines that might be useful for discussion. The matter would be revisited at the next Council meeting.
  Action: John

Chair’s Report

Helen said that she had been keeping in close touch with Martin and John regarding current issues.

Martin had conducted an induction process for new Council Members by telephone.

John said that Martin had been invited to attend the 19 July ad hoc Ministers’ meeting on biotechnology. Council Members who had any thoughts on what Martin could take to that meeting could raise those at the July Council meeting.

Report of Human Tissue Working Group

Martin’s report on “Organ Transplantation – the ethical, legal, and psychological aspects” was tabled.

Cordelia reported on the oral submission to the Health Select Committee on the Human Tissue Bill made by Marie and Cordelia.

Report of Embryo Working Group

The Council’s oral submission to ACART had been reasonably warmly received, and the meeting had finished with an agreement to continue collaborating.

Cordelia said she would circulate her presentation to the Medical Law Conference.

Action: Cordelia

Report on Aotearoa Research on Biotechnology and Society Network (AROBAS) Conference

Rosemary said that the key outcomes of the conference were:

• A statement of key themes
• Further negotiation on the format of RFPs
• Setting up ongoing website with links to the BEC’s website
• A further workshop within the next year or so.

John said he would send his presentation to Council Members.

Action: John

Report on Nga Pae o te Maramatanga

John reported on his attendance at the celebration of the first set of national awards for outstanding Maori academic achievement. The full report was available on the website www.maramatanga.co.nz. The BEC had been mentioned as a major sponsor of the awards.

Report on the Navigator Network Neuroscience Symposium: Unfolding the mind: prospects and perils in neuroscience

Helen reported on attendance at this symposium by some Council and Secretariat Members. Papers were available on the Navigator Network website.

Report on “Who Gets Born?” Working Group

Rosemary reported that the working group had met in March. It had scoped “Who Gets Born?” as a one-year project (March to March), with a budget allocation of $400,000. Evaluation would be a key component of the project because the project would not be just an inquiry into some of the issues around pre-birth genetic testing but also a critical look at some processes of public engagement. The project would have four main stages:

• scoping, which would involve interviews;
• framing, into which the interviews would feed;
• group meetings and other forms of public engagement;
• a more detailed analysis of that material, which would feed into a report – that report should be in draft form by February and to the Minister in March.

The working group would be meeting 17 April to sign off on some of that material, allocate interview work, and move to the next stage of the project.

John said that he had made inquiries of people who could possibly facilitate some of the framing exercise.

Presentation and Discussion on Environmental Issues

Mark Fisher gave a presentation on environmental bioethics issues relating to the agricultural sector.

Council Members discussed possible next steps and whether they wanted to have on their work programme a piece of work related to agricultural and environmental biotechnology. It was agreed that the Secretariat would come back with a framework on how to proceed, including possibly an invitation to Morgan Williams, former Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, to speak to Council.

Action: Simon

Other Business

Possible Further Linkages with UNESCO Programme
Council Members discussed a proposal by Peggy that it support UNESCO’s programme aimed at ensuring Pacific people have the opportunity to discuss and document their ethics and knowledge systems especially as they relate to the cultural and ethical implications presented by emerging technologies. A regional conference would be held in Apia in November 2007 as a follow-up to the 2006 Ethics of Knowledge Production Conference at the University of Otago. She suggested that the BEC could present a public workshop at that regional conference in Apia on relevant cultural, ethical, and spiritual issues.

There was general support for the Council sending one or two presenters to that workshop. Peggy and John would work together to refine the suggestion, including working up a budget.

Action: Peggy and John

Prioritising Council Relationships for 2007-08

Council discussed people and organisations it should develop relationships with and the reasons for doing so. The following suggestions were made:   

Government
Consider including Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, FRST, MRST, Ministry for the Environment, Ministry of Health, MAF, Human Rights Commission, Health Research Council, Office for Disability Issues, Office for Senior Citizens under MSD, Maori MPs across parties, Maori Advisory Group of ERMA and other Maori and Pasifika advisory groups, Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs, National Ethics Advisory Committee of Ministry of Health, ACART, regional ethics committees, animal ethics committees, Local Government New Zealand,

Sector Groups
Human genome project researchers, ESR, IRL, Royal Society, Landcare Research, Federated Farmers, Meat and Wool New Zealand, Deer Farmers Association, Dairy Farmers, Rural Women (Mark to provide names of appropriate agricultural organisations), NZ Bio Group (Brian Ward),

NGOs
Federation of Maori Scientists, Federation of Maori Authorities, Pasifika Women, National Pacific Researchers,

Educational
AROBAS Network which involves social scientists at CRIs, Bronwyn Hayward (Canterbury), Professor of e-Government at Victoria University, university groups in the biotech area,

Public
Gender groups, including the gay community, National Council of Women’s, Maori Womens Welfare League, specific gender groups that look at biotech,

Media (including Internet)
Radio stations, Nui FM, iwi radio network, Jim Tully (Mass Communications, University of Canterbury) - a possible person to consult), Chris Laidlaw’s Sunday programme on Radio NZ, UNESCO’s ICT stream of programmes informing media on how to report on these sorts of issues,

International
Nuffield, Sciencewise, Demos, Singapore Bioethics Centre, USP, UPNG, South Pacific Commission.

It was agreed that those organisations would be incorporated in the database list of resources. Other ideas welcome. A template of these headings would be useful to send to Council members so they can fill in their own suggestions.
Action: Secretariat

Simon’s Application for Dialogue Course Expenses

(Simon left the meeting for the duration of this discussion.)

Council members discussed an application by Simon Wright for financial support to meet travel and accommodation costs to attend two face-to-face meetings as part of a Sydney University course on public engagement. It was noted that the Ministry had agreed to fund the course fees. John Pennington said that he fully supported the application.

That Council support funding the travel and accommodation component of Simon Wright undertaking the course in Dialogue Deliberation and Public Engagement, Sydney University Fielding Graduate School for 2007-08.
Chris Cunningham / Waiora Port
Carried

(Simon returned to the meeting.)

As a general comment, Chris said that the Council should have a policy that training for Secretariat staff be relevant, that it be equitable within the Secretariat, and that there be a budget for it. John said he would think of how those principles could be incorporated. It was agreed that in future decisions regarding staff development should be made by the programme leader rather than the full Council.

Plan to Develop Website

It was noted that a plan to upgrade the website is being developed.  This agenda item was not discussed as the plan has not been sufficiently developed.

Finalising Council’s Work Programme for 2007-08

The Council discussed its work programme, in particular whether it should include a piece of work on agricultural and environmental biotechnology. The following work programme was agreed to:

Financial Report

John reported on a satisfactory financial position. At the next meeting he would be able to report on anything of note that came out of tomorrow’s meeting of the Budget Working Group.

Secretariat Report

The report was tabled and noted. Peggy asked Cordelia to circulate the paper she gave at the 8th Annual Medical Law Conference.                        

Action: Cordelia

Other Business

APEC Conference
Council Members discussed whether to send anyone to the APEC conference.

Workshop – Lyn Carson from Australia
John said that the workshop was well into the planning stage. He would keep   Council Members informed of developments.
Action: John

Council Claim Forms
John said that he would bring a supply of claim forms to each meeting.
Action: John

2008 Asian Bioethics Conference
Cordelia and Eamon both spoke to their conference reports. Cordelia was         asked to circulate her paper.
Action: Cordelia

There being no further business, the meeting closed at 3.51 p.m. with a karakia from Chris.

Action List