Biology Reference
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consent procedures and mutually beneficial models of international scientific
cooperation (Sleeboom-Faulkner 2005 ).
One of the outcomes is China's 1998 Interim Measures for the Administration
of Human Genetic Resources. This crucial set of regulations underscores the
importance of the ethical and scientific review of international cooperative projects
that involve exporting human genetic resources from China or importing them into
the country. Yihong Hu, the divisional director of Bioresource and Biosafety at the
China National Centre for Biotechnological Development, explicated the function
of the Chinese Human Genetic Resources Management Office at the fourth Bionet
workshop, entitled 'Biobanking and personal genomics: Challenges and futures
for EU-China collaborations', held in April 2009, in Shenzhen, China: 6
• Drafting the implementation details and documents, coordination and supervi-
sion of the implementation of this approach
• Management and registration of important family genealogy and special genetic
and specific areas of genetic resources
• Administrative approval of international cooperation projects on human genetic
resources
• Acceptance of applications for the export of human genetic resources
• Other tasks related to human genetic resources management (Hu 2009 ).
Since the launch of the interim measures, every international cooperative pro-
ject that involves the transportation of genetic resources across Chinese borders
must apply for permission from the Human Genetic Resources Management
Office. An expert panel was established to review the applications according to
both scientific and ethical considerations. From January 1999 to April 2009, the
office received 303 applications and rejected 59 of them. Taking into account the
advancement of biomedical research and emerging issues in benefit sharing and
intellectual property, the office has been consulting with international and national
experts since 2005 in order to revise the Interim Measures .
The current regime, however, does not necessarily cover all international coop-
erative projects. Exceptions can occur in the case of research that involves invest-
ments by a foreign institution or company, but is conducted in China. For example,
a large-scale epidemiology project, led by a researcher at a prestigious UK univer-
sity, was successfully launched in China in 2004 without reporting to the Human
Genetic Resources Management Office (see www.ckbiobank.org ) . Although the
study collects and stores blood samples and extensive health-related data, it does
not actually export any 'human genetic resources' out of China. While there is
every reason to believe that the research being approved by the university ethics
committee and Chinese partner institutions is appropriately obtaining informed
consent from participants, this kind of research alerts the office to potential loop-
holes in the current regulations. How to protect research participants effectively
6 http://www.bionet-china.org
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