Facing the possibility that they might have to destroy stored human blood and tissue samples because of a law on human biomedical samples passed last year, researchers yesterday urged the government to help them find a different solution.
Adopted on Feb. 3 last year, the Human Body Biological Database Management Act (人體生物資料庫管理條例) includes a one-year buffer period for researchers to obtain the required permits or consent to store human blood and tissue samples. After the deadline next year, all samples without proper paperwork have to be destroyed.
The biomedical industry estimates that by Feb. 5, it might have to destroy more than 1 million samples stored by hospital laboratories, biotech companies, or genetic databases that were before the legislation was enacted.
Epidemiologist Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), who is a research fellow at Academia Sinica, said many important research projects, such as one on a lung cancer gene, have been suspended because the deadline is approaching.
He said that researchers took years to establish human biological databases. If they want to keep the samples, researchers now have to go back to ask the providers whether they agree that the samples can be used for new research, to submit the renewed agreement papers to the ethnics committee and then continue their research only after the renewed agreement passes a committee review, he said.
Academia Sinica researcher Chen Ting-hsin (陳定信), who specializes in hepatitis studies, said he had obtained human biological samples for research on Hepatitis B and gained consent from the providers to use the specimen in research.
“Now researchers have found that they could use the same samples for research on Hepatitis C, but have to go back to the patients to get their consent for using their samples for Hepatitis C studies,” he said. “It may seem easy in words, but it’s hard to do.”
Chen Chien-jen said that because the new law puts restrictions on exporting human biological samples, it would become more difficult for Taiwan to be included in transnational clinical studies.
Director of the Department of Health’s (DOH) Bureau of Medical Affairs, Shih Chung-liang (石崇良), said there were two possible ways to resolve the problem researchers face under the new law.
If the sample provider did not specify which research projects their samples were authorized to be used on, researchers may use the sample for new studies as long as the ethics committee approves, Shih said.
Shih said that researchers may also hide all information related to the sample provider so that it would be impossible to find out who that person was, or keep the sample temporarily until obtaining renewed consent before initiating new research.
However, several human rights groups, including the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, the Human Sample Protection Association Taiwan, the Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association and Taiwan Women’s Link, issued a joint statement yesterday calling on the DOH to execute the law as it is and destroy all unauthorized samples on Feb. 5. If the department violates the law, the statement said, they would report the case to the Control Yuan.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
RSS