Plenary meeting no. 8/2021 was held on 28th October 2021 (online). During the meeting the final version of the Committee Statement - Appeal to the authorities of the Republic of Poland to undertake decisive actions in the fight against the fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, was developed.
Plenary meeting no. 7/2021 was held on 30th June, 2021 (online). The Committee debated on legal and social consequences of the verdict of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal of 22nd October 2020 regarding illegality of the abortion on fetal abnormalities grounds. Introductory lectures were given by prof. Mirosław Wyrzykowski (retired judge of the Constitutional Tribunal and prof. emeritus of the University of Warsaw) and adv. Kamila Ferenc (chief lawyer of the Federation for Women’s Rights and Family Planning).
Plenary meeting no. 6/2021 was held on 14th April 2021 (online). The Committee discussed ethical and social problems, especially threats to scientific and academic freedom, raised by a proposal of the Act on the National Copernicus Programme. Prof. Zbigniew Szawarski – the Honorary Chairperson of the Bioethics Committee – gave an opening talk titled “In defense of open society”.
Plenary meeting no. 5/2020 was held on 16th December 2020 (online). The session was dedicated to ethical and political dilemmas associated with the micro- and macroallocation of Covid-19 vaccines. Dr Katarzyna Bielińska-Kowalewska and Ms. Anna Chowaniec (Univeristy of Warsaw) provided an introdutory talks on Covid-19 vaccines as a global common good.
Plenary meeting no. 4/2020 was held on 25th June 2020 (online). The Committee debated on various implications of Covid-19 pandemics for public health ethics, research ethics, and clinical ethics. Dr Joanna Różyńska (Chairperson of the Bioethics Committee) was a keynote speaker of the session.
Plenary meeting no. 3/2019 was held on 26th November 2019, in the Staszic Palace in Warsaw. The meeting focused on ethical, social, and legal aspects of unproven and potentially dangerous stem cell "treatments" offered by some unscrupulous providers to most vulnerable Polish patients for profit. Prof. Józef Dulak and Prof. Marcin Waligóra (both from the Jagiellonian University in Cracow) presented scientific and ethical aspects of this practice. Mr. Marek Bilbin offered a patient’s perspective on this commercial activity of some dishonest and unscrupulous stem cell clinics.
Plenary meeting no. 2/2019 was held on 18th June 2019, in the Staszic Palace in Warsaw. The Committee discussed on ethical and legal aspects of advance directives, including medical proxy, that are still not regulated in the Polish legal system. The plenary discussion was preceded by three introductory lectures given by members of the Bioethics Committees: dr Weronika Chańska (an ethicist from the Jagiellonian University in Cracow), dr hab. Maria Boratyńskia (a legal scholar from the University of Warsaw), and dr hab. Marek Czarkowski (a medical doctor and bioethicist from the Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw).
Plenary meeting no. 1/2019 was held on 3rd April 2019 in the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw. The Deputy Director of the Polish Academy of Sciences, prof. Romuald Zabielski, handed over appointment letters to all members of the Bioethics Committee for the term 2019-2020 as well as to a new Chairperson of the Committee. The Chairperson run the elections of two Vice-Chairpersons and Scientific Secretary of the Committee, and presented the Committee work plan for the new term. The Committee unanimously nominated prof. Zbigniew Szawarski to serve as a Honorary Chairman of the body.