On 28 February, the Swedish National Council on Medical Ethics presented a new report on assisted reproduction. Topics that are explored are, among others, surrogate motherhood, embryo donation, social egg freezing and age limits concerning fertility treatments. The ethical analyses are accomplished by the Council´s recommendations on several matters. One of the main conclusions is that it is time to allow new treatment possibilities in Sweden.

The 2 of November the Danish Council of Ethics released a new report on genetic analyses, supplemented with the Council's recommendations. One of the recommendations is that people seeking genetic tests should be offered a ‘genetic counselor’ who can advise them about the ethical dilemmas they might face after taking a test. A few weeks earlier, the Ethics Council of U.S. released a report on whole genome sequencing and privacy.

The 8 of November the Swedish National Council on Medical Ethics arranged a seminar on the theme autonomy, patient empowerment and integrity. During the seminar various topics were discussed including possibilities and risks of new technologies, patients’ different access to health care information and choices, paternalism and patient centered care.

The Cyprus National Bioethics Committee hosted this year's “NEC Forum” that took place in Nicosia from 4 to 5 October. This year students from schools in Cyprus and Greece had been invited to participate in group discussions on the subject “Ethics and Education“. Another main subject of the meeting was “Responsible Research and Innovation”. The Swedish National Council on Medical Ethics was represented by members of the secretariat.

The Swedish council on medical ethics is giving a conferens on the subject autonomy, patients´rights and advocacy. Read more.

Tunisia hosted the WHO meeting Global Summit of National Ethics Committees (NECs) on September 26-28 2012. This was the first time an Arab and Muslim country was responsible for the summit and the first time it took place in Africa. The summit gathered participants from NECs from a large number of countries. Please find the presentations made by the Swedish delegation.

Currently the council is reasessing its earlier statements concerning diffrent methods of treatment of infertility. The council will focus on patient integrity and empowerment in the upcoming work in the autumn 2012.