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

Hedlund, Maria LU (2010)
Abstract
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... (More)
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. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
expertise, democracy, bioethics, PGD, Sweden
host publication
Quality Issues in Clinical Genetic Services
editor
Kristoffersson, Ulf ; Cassiman, J. J. and Schmidtke, Jörg
publisher
Springer
ISBN
978-90-481-3918-7
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
401cd6fe-f894-4a33-a406-9322a7fe011a (old id 2276802)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 11:59:42
date last changed
2018-11-21 21:08:24
@inbook{401cd6fe-f894-4a33-a406-9322a7fe011a,
  abstract     = {{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.<br/><br>
•	Decision-making on issues concerning all society should be democratically legitimate in all aspects, including the work of government advisory committees.<br/><br>
•	Democratic legitimacy of expert advice is desirable not only for the democratic values per se, but also for the quality of political decisions.<br/><br>
•	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.<br/><br>
•	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.}},
  author       = {{Hedlund, Maria}},
  booktitle    = {{Quality Issues in Clinical Genetic Services}},
  editor       = {{Kristoffersson, Ulf and Cassiman, J. J. and Schmidtke, Jörg}},
  isbn         = {{978-90-481-3918-7}},
  keywords     = {{expertise; democracy; bioethics; PGD; Sweden}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  title        = {{Democratic expert influence through bioethical advisory commissions? The case of Sweden}},
  year         = {{2010}},
}