China to speed up legislation on biotech development

BEIJING -- China's State Council will speed up the legislation of administrative regulations on the safety of biotech research and clinical application of new biomedical technologies, according to the Ministry of Justice.

Peng Gaojian, a senior official with the ministry, revealed the information Wednesday at a press conference on a newly published regulation on the management of human genetic resources.

The biotech safety regulations will focus on preventing bioterrorism and activities that seriously violate social ethics, as well as avoiding direct or indirect biosafety hazards, said Peng.

The clinical application regulations, in the meantime, will strengthen the management on the use of new biomedical technologies in medical institutions to ensure safety.

He said that the regulations in the above two categories, together with the newly published regulation on human genetic resources, will form a complete supervision chain on life science research and medical activities.

At present, relevant departments are pushing forward the legislation in accordance with the procedural requirement, according to Peng.