Researcher appointed to The Danish Council of Ethics

Associate Professor Steen Vallentin from the Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy and the CBS Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility has, as of September 10, been appointed as a member of The Danish Council of Ethics (Det etiske råd). The council has 17 members in all. Members are designated by Danish parliament and relevant ministries and appointed by the Minister of Interior and Health for a period of three years. A member can be reappointed once.

The primary purpose of The Danish Council of Ethics is to provide Danish parliament, public authorities and the public at large with ongoing advice and information about ethical problems raised by developments within the national health service and the field of biomedicine. However, the council’s mandate also include food and consumer issues and sustainable development in a broader sense (e.g. the council has debated the sustainability of biofuels).

Steen Vallentin took part in his first council meeting on September 26, where the main item on the agenda was commercialization of the human body and recommendations regarding medical treatment tourism. Steen Vallentin says about the appointment:

- I’m honored to join the council and look forward to many interesting and challenging discussions with a diverse and highly qualified group of people. On the one hand, I look forward to engaging in discussions of ethical issues, often pertaining to matters of life and death, that are outside the scope of what we normally grapple with at a business school. On the other hand, I also look forward to seeing how my expertise in corporate social responsibility and related matters can make a difference, he says.