The dignity of living beings with regard to plants. Moral consideration of plants for their own sake (pdf, 2.45 MB) - The Federal Constitution has three forms of protection for plants: the protection of biodiversity, species protection, and the duty to take the dignity of living beings into consideration when handling plants. The constitutional term "living beings" encompasses animals, plants and other organisms. At legislative level, the Gene Technology Act limits the scope of the term to animals and plants.

Research  on Primates -  an ethical Evaluation (pdf, 1.3 MB) - Report by the Swiss Committee on Animal Experiments (SCAE) and the Swiss Ethics Committee on Non Human Biotechnology (ECNH) published in May 2006.

Gene Technology and Developing Countries (pdf, 2.1 MB) - Booklet published in September 2004. While supporters of gene technology welcome its promotion as a means of fighting hunger in developing and newly industrialised countries, detractors warn against the negative consequences of this technology in such countries. Both camps regard themselves as advocates of people in the "South".

Gene Technology for Food (pdf, 765 KB) - Booklet published in March 2003. Ethical considerations for the marketing of genetically modified foodstuffs and animal feed.

Patents on animals and plants (pdf, 55 KB) - A contribution to discussion, published in December 2001. The currently applicable regulations on patenting exclude the patenting of plant varieties and animal species. Patents on animals and plants are permissible. The possibility of patenting inventions derived from living organisms has been the subject of public controversy for some time. The ECNH has therefore taken on the task of summarizing the arguments raised in the public arena and presenting its own preliminary considerations for discussion.