Bioethics Advisory Committee (BAC)
In December 2000, the Cabinet appointed the Bioethics Advisory Committee (BAC) to address the potential ethical, legal and social issues arising from biomedical sciences research in Singapore.
The Committee is charged to ensure that Singapore’s decisions regarding the biomedical sciences and research are based on good science and high ethical and legal standards. It actively gathers information and views from the international and local community and makes its recommendations to the Steering Committee on Life Sciences after careful deliberation.
Since its set up, the BAC has released five reports:
(i) Ethical Legal and Social Issues in Human Stem Cell Research, Reproductive and Therapeutic Cloning (June 2002);
(ii) Human Tissue Research (November 2002);
(iii) Research involving Human Subjects: Guidelines for IRBs (November 2004)
(iv) Genetic Testing and Genetic Research (November 2005); and
(v) Personal Information in Biomedical Research (May 2007)
Chaired by Professor Lim Pin, University Professor and former Vice Chancellor of National University of Singapore, the BAC consists of the following members:
* Professor Lee Hin Peng (Deputy Chairman) – Department of Community, Occupational and Family Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore
* Professor Alastair Campbell – Director, Centre for Biomedical Ethics, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore
* Mr Charles Lim Aeng Cheng – Principal Senior State Counsel (Law Reform & Revision), Attorney-General’s Chambers
* Professor Eddie Kuo – Professor of Sociology, Division of Sociology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University
* Mr Han Fook Kwang – Editor, The Straits Times
* Professor Kandiah Satkunanantham – Director of Medical Services, Ministry of Health
* Professor Lee Eng Hin – Director, Division of Graduate Medical Studies, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore
* Mr Nazirudin Bin Mohd Nasir – Head, Office of the Mufti, Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura
* Associate Professor Nuyen Anh Tuan – Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore
* Associate Professor Patrick Tan – Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School and Group Leader, Genome Institute of Singapore
* Professor Yap Hui Kim – Senior Consultant, Department of Paediatrics, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore
Recent News:
‘Non-invasive’ cultivar? Buyer beware
Yet simple population modeling demonstrates that reductions of even 95 percent in the number of viable seed will leave a long-lived species quite capable of spreading — and many of the new cultivars do not achieve even that much of a reduction visitor health insurance. More sophisticated modeling would likely reveal even stronger invasive potential of the “safe” cultivars.
Barrow scientists identify new stem cell activity in human brain
The findings revealed that there is a pathway of young migrating neurons targeting the prefrontal cortex of the human brain in the first few months of life. Travelling with family or business visitors health insurance is a must. After the first year of life, the subventricular zone of the brain slows down, tapering production of new brain cells by the time a child is 18-months and then to nearly zero by age two.
