Zane Linde , University of Latvia , Faculty of Biology

1. European Social Fund project “Capacity buildingfor interdisciplinary biosafety research” • Nr.2009/0224/1DP/1.1.1.2.0/09/APIA/VIAA/055 Informedconsent to biobankresearch: a need for ethical framework and coherent national regulation in Latvia International conference"From informed consent to no consent? The challenges of new ethical frameworks“Tartu, EstoniaNovember 4 - 6, 2010 Scientificknowledge • There is deficiency of publicly available information on biobanking and no public discussion on ethical aspects of biobank research. • There is lack of experience of participatory practices. The responsibilities regarding development of legal and ethical framework are left to experts (politicians and scientists). • “Well if say to me, it is a marker of analysis ... I fully believe in the man who gave the oath of Hippocrates and appreciate the professional responsibility, either, and if he is a villain then I cannot intervene there.” (Genome Project donor)4 • There is no discussion on possible future developments of informed consent requirements in terms of liberalism and communitarianism. • The media is not as an intermediary between government, science and society. Only some bioethical issues, such as GMOs, are broadly covered by mass media. • 1,2,4 AivitaPutnina. Population genome project in Latvia. Centre for bioethics and biosafety. 2008 • 3 Zane Linde. Geneticbiotechnologiesindailypracticeofmedicine (MasterThesis). 2010 Zane Linde, UniversityofLatvia, FacultyofBiology Signe Mežinska, UniversityofLatvia, FacultyofHumanities Ilze Mileiko, UniversityofLatvia, FacultyofBiology