The Office of the President of the Assembly of the Republic (AR) issued Draft Vote of Commendation No. 204/XVII, marking the 35th anniversary of the National Council of Ethics for the Life Sciences (CNECV), celebrated in 2025. The content of the vote was publicly presented for the first time at the opening session of the States General of Bioethics, held on 17 October at the Assembly of the Republic. The text acknowledges the CNECV’s trajectory and contribution to ethical reflection on the challenges posed by scientific innovation in fields such as biology, medicine and the life sciences.
Established in 1990 and, since 2009, an independent body of the Assembly of the Republic, the CNECV has supported “Parliament and public authorities by helping to inform political decision-making in a more knowledgeable and ethically aware manner, and by contributing to ensuring that technological progress is placed at the service of human dignity, the common good and the fundamental rights of the person,” the vote of commendation states.
Over more than three decades, the Council has issued opinions that have contributed to public policies on matters such as medically assisted reproduction, cloning, stem cells, gene therapy and surrogacy. The text also highlights the recent convening of the States General of Bioethics, seen as an expression of the Council’s commitment to reflecting on contemporary bioethical challenges and on the evolution of its own institutional role.
The draft also recalls the pioneering nature of the creation of the CNECV in Portugal and the growing relevance of its mission in a context shaped by new areas of reflection, such as artificial intelligence, transhumanism and the accelerated pace of scientific research and innovation.
