Press Release

Published 17.02.2010 Author: Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches

Research on humans only with their consent

The FSPC welcomes the decision of the Legislature to revise the article of the Swiss Constitution on research involving human beings. At the same time, the FSPC draws attention to the remaining shortcomings in the protection of human dignity. It spotlights weaknesses in the recognition of refusal by people incapable of giving consent to a research project.

The Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches FSPC welcomes the decision of the Swiss Confederation on an article of the Constitution on research involving human beings, which will be put to the Swiss electorate on 7 March 2010. Federal regulation of research involving human beings, in the fields of medicine and biotechnology, is indeed necessary.

The FSPC gave its answer at the hearing on the Confederation's preliminary legislative drafts, as early as 2006. It was insistent that, in relation to freedom of research, human dignity should always be paramount. The obligation of the state to guarantee unlimited protection of human dignity and rights could not be made relative to, or restricted by, any aim of research.

A further weakness of the Federal resolution lies in its recognition that people incapable of consenting to proposed research may, nevertheless, refuse it. The Federal Council has accepted that such refusal is relevant in principle, but fails to prescribe what constitutes binding refusal in practice.

In view of this ambiguity of the article of the Constitution, the FSPC stresses that an affected person's declared refusal should be binding without exception; that research other than for the benefit of the person concerned should be universally banned; and that the procedure for approval of research should be extremely strict in cases where people are presumably unable to understand or assess their own condition.

The FSPC will carefully monitor the further progress of this constitutional article. It also remains to be seen what consequences the article will have for research practice.

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