title: The European convention on bioethics.
abstract: Nearly fifteen years after the Council of Europe first called for a pan-European convention on issues in bioethics to harmonize disparate national regulations, in November 1996 the council's Committee of Ministers approved the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine for formal adoption. The draft convention, released in July 1994, provoked strong public, professional, and governmental debate among European nations, particularly regarding provisions for biomedical research with subjects unable to give informed consent. If ratified, the "bioethics convention" will become the first such document to have binding force internationally.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: de Wachter
mesh_terms: D026688:Bioethical Issues; D032921:Consensus; D034462:Dissent and Disputes; D017041:Ethics Committees; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005060:Europe; D033161:Government Regulation; D006126:Group Processes; D006806:Human Rights; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D038622:Internationality; D033281:Nontherapeutic Human Experimentation; D016377:Organ Transplantation; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D028723:Personhood; D009272:Persons; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012106:Research; D035845:Research Embryo Creation; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement; D035862:Vulnerable Populations