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Democratic expert influence through bioethical advisory commissions? The case of Sweden

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Author

Editor

  • Ulf Kristoffersson
  • J. J. Cassiman
  • Jörg Schmidtke

Summary, in English

Bioethical government advisory committees have profound influence on political decision-making on gene technology issues, concerning not only patients with genetically related diseases, but also, potentially, the whole society.

• Decision-making on issues concerning all society should be democratically legitimate in all aspects, including the work of government advisory committees.

• Democratic legitimacy of expert advice is desirable not only for the democratic values per se, but also for the quality of political decisions.

• In the case of PGD legislation in Sweden, the national government advisory committee functioned as a bridge between political representatives, specialist civil servants, and scientific experts, but the connection with public opinion was more or less absent.

• Had the advisory committee worked more openly and allowed a multiplicity of perspectives being heard, the democratic and quality aspects in this legislation process would have been strengthened.

Publishing year

2010

Language

English

Publication/Series

Quality Issues in Clinical Genetic Services

Document type

Book chapter

Publisher

Springer

Topic

  • Political Science

Keywords

  • expertise
  • democracy
  • bioethics
  • PGD
  • Sweden

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISBN: 978-90-481-3918-7