A novelty on the subject of ethics and health. With Decree 893/2025, the national government established the National Bioethics Commission. This will be the responsibility evaluate The ethical aspects involved in the development of new technologies related to health. The aim of the initiative is to strengthen the state’s response to this ethical, moral and legal challenges which have arisen through scientific and technical progress and establish clear, comprehensive criteria that ensure the protection of research participants and the scientific integrity of clinical studies.
Governing body for bioethical issues
The new commission will be the only governing body for bioethics at the national level. This will allow us to organize the current scenario of intervening actors, characterized by fragmentation, overlapping functions and poorly defined competencies. To this end, the decree provides for the abolition of the National Biomedical Ethics Commission, created in 1998 but never fully operational. Also dissolves the Research Ethics Commission and the National Research Ethics Advisory Commission, both of which are under the Ministry of Health. The functions of both organizations will be taken over by the new Commission, strengthening their coordinating nature.
In order to ensure their effective functioning, the new regulations require the Commission to carry out at least the following: two annual meetings. In them they must deal with topics of interest identified by the Commission itself at the request of individuals or public administration bodies or as a result of emerging situations requiring a bioethical approach.
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Its main functions will be advises the executive branch and to other government agencies; Establish ethical standards for health research and the use of new technologies; prepare reports and recommendations; strengthen ties with provincial committees; and promote spaces for training, research and public debate on emerging issues.
Who is there?
The organization will operate under the nation’s Ministry of Health. It will be chaired by the Minister of Health of the nation and consists of six full members and three substitute members who must be ethics specialists, Health experts, community representatives and specialists from disciplines such as law, philosophy, anthropology or economics.
The commission may convene academic or professional institutions to analyze specific topics.
Everyone will fulfill their duties ad honor. The Ministry will be responsible for appointing its members in a public and transparent process, adopting the internal regulations and having the resources necessary for its work.
The decree also establishes the Federal Advisory Council on Research Ethics, composed of provincial representatives, which will be responsible for accrediting jurisdictional committees, agreeing criteria, gathering territorial experience and assisting in ethical dilemmas affecting more than one jurisdiction.
The aim is to ensure greater predictability, legal certainty and consistency in the adoption and application of international standards. The creation of an organization with precise powers, institutional legitimacy and effective functioning will make it possible to establish clear guidelines for the development of technologies for health, scientific research and the resolution of possible ethical problems that health legislation and professional practice may face.
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