UK Biobank Ethics and Governance Council Website
29 April 2005
The new UK Biobank Ethics and Governance Council website has now gone live at http://www.egcukbiobank.org.uk/.
The Council has been set up to monitor the ethics and governance of the UK Biobank project, a long-term national project to build the world’s largest information resource for medical researchers. The project will follow the health of 500 000 volunteers aged 40-69 in the UK for up to 30 years. Once gathered, this information will help approved researchers to develop new and better ways of preventing, diagnosing and treating common illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease.
Since the analysis of health data and biological materials in such depth by many projects over time raises a number of ethical issues, the UK Biobank funders have been developing a public Ethics and Governance Framework (EGF) to set standards for the project.
The Ethics and Governance Council will help to develop this Framework, and will ensure that ethical safeguards are in place throughout the project, including those dealing with the use of data and samples for scientifically and ethically approved research.
The Council’s new website includes information on its remit, constitution and working procedures, along with public reports and agendas of Council meetings.
The UK Biobank Ethics and Governance Council is funded by the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust.
