Public Consultation on the Human Biomedical Research Bill

1.         MOH will be holding a public consultation from 6 Nov to 18 Dec 2014 (extended to 15 January 2015) on the Human Biomedical Research Bill.

2.         The Bill aims to further strengthen the international standing of Singapore’s research community. It will provide clarity regarding the roles and responsibilities of individuals and organisations involved in human biomedical research. It will also ensure that human biomedical research, tissue collection and banking activities are carried out under good research and ethical practice principles.

3.         In particular, the Bill will:

·         Enhance the protection of the safety and welfare of research participants,

·         Regulate categories of restricted research (such as human-animal combination stem cell research),

·         Protect the safety and welfare of tissue donors, and

·         Prohibit the commercial trading of human tissues regardless of whether it is used in research.

4.         The bill will be enacted in 2015.

5.         A copy of the Draft Bill is available in Annex A.

6.         An accompanying deck of slides (with explanatory notes), that outlines the key policy concepts of the Human Biomedical Research and Human Tissue regulatory frameworks to be found in the Main Bill and its future Regulations, is available in Annex B.

7.         MOH would like to invite interested parties to submit written comments on the proposed Bill. Interested parties may use the feedback form available at www.moh.gov.sg/hbr.

Summary of Responses to Feedback Received During Public Consultation on Human Biomedical Research Bill can be found here.