THE REGIONAL LAWS OF BIOBANKS: THE ITALIAN EXPERIENCE

The project is akin to investigate the legal issues related to the so-called “regionalization” of the law of biobanks  which is starting to take place in Italy. Absent a national legislation on the topic, several regional legislators (as well as the legislators of autonomous provinces like Trento and Bolzano) are starting to consider the need of issuing regulations at the local level in order to ease the task of local biobankers, setting up organizational guidelines which may serve as a framework of reference for the delicate task of creating network of biobanks at the local level.

While this initiatives are worth of consideration and appear for many reasons meritorious, there is a concrete risk in following this path without a careful analysis. The risk is to create a babel of definitions which may end up in  the classic remedy which – when considered at the national level – could be worse than the disease.

It is in response to this risk that some researcher at the Trento lawtwch center are working in order to create a virtual forum where all the stakeholders interested in legislative initiatives at the regional level could interract. The goal is to establish a venue where different proposals and scientific opinions about the many open issues related to the biobanks regulation at the local level can be openly debated in a context where the stakeholders may find easy access to a plurality of data and sources of information on the legal issues of biobanking.

Giovanni Pascuzzi

Umberto Izzo

Matteo Macilotti 

Rossana Ducato