In the news

The Human Genetics Commission (HGC) is continuing to honour its commitment to make its deliberations available to the public. The minutes of the recent meeting of the Public Involvement in Genetics subgroup report that the public event held in Newcastle at the end of November was considered to have been generally successful. The subgroup discussed holding annual events of this type in the future, as well as other ways of involving the public, perhaps including e-mail consultation. Full meetings of the HGC are to be open to the public as observers from this year, with the first of these scheduled for 2 March. Members of the public will be able to apply for tickets, with a certain number of places reserved for representatives of special interest groups. Some future HGC meetings may even be televised via the Parliamentary Channel. The HGC considers it important that its discussions should be informed by an understanding of the views of people directly affected by genetic disorders, and for this reason is planning to set up a Patients' Panel. The Public Involvement subgroup felt it was important that the Panel should represent the full range of opinion among such patients, their carers and families, and that it should have an independent secretariat.