Ethical, social and legal aspects of the Life Sciences programmes
The European Commission, DG XII, has published a catalogue of contracts of projects covering the Ethical, Social and Legal Aspects (ELSA) of the three Life Sciences and Technologies programmes of the Fourth Framework Programme - Biotechnology (BIOTECH), Biomedicine and Health (BIOMED) and Agriculture and Fisheries (FAIR). ELSA activities aim to help analyse the ethical, social and legal issues raised by specific biotechnology applications, to promote a rational and balanced dialogue between the key players, to understand and address public attitudes and diversity of viewpoints, to anticipate new problems, and to provide early warnings for new ethical and social issues in the field of biotechnology. The projects described in the publication are ongoing and are due to produce results from 1998. The book aims to increase public knowledge of current activities, in topics ranging from fundamental values in medical ethics to consumer attitudes towards genetically modified foods. This should prove useful both in the debate on the use of biotechnology and in the context of the preparation of the Fifth Framework Programme.