Ethics committees in comparative law - through the lens of Latin America

The organizations and authoritative entities specialized in evaluating the ethical issues raised by recent developments in the life sciences take on extremely diverse denominations and forms such as commissions, committees, and boards that all form a complex nebulous. Research focusing on differentiating these bodies is very rich. Various attempts at categorizing these organizations agree on the existence of two main types of ethics committees, hospital ethics committees, and biomedical research ethics committees. On the basis of these categories numerous sub-committees are then created and exercise a variety of skills at the local, national, regional and international levels. As for their main characteristics, consensual research identifies three basic elements: independence, interdisciplinarity and pluralism.
Despite a relatively late development in the general field of the life sciences and more particularly in the realm of technology and medical progress, Latin America has fully participated in the phenomenon now known as the institutionalization of bioethics, and has done so with specific characteristics to its region. Indeed, the establishment of ethical review boards in this region is above all preoccupiedby the priority given to the principles of justice and access to health services due to the predominance of socio-economic issues.