Requests to CNECV & INMLCF

Dr. Hugo Cardoso filed a request to the Municipality of Lisbon (Câmara Municipal de Lisboa - CML). The Municipal Division of Cemetery Management (Divisão de Gestão Cemiterial - DGC) requested from the National Council of Ethics for the Life Sciences (Conselho Nacional de Ética para as Ciências da Vida - CNECV) a report on Dr. Cardoso's project. In October 2015, the CNECV provided a report in support of the project. The CNECV meeting minutes can be found in the PDF file below. In summary, the CNECV report stated that:

• The Portuguese legislation is silent on the issue raised (donation of unclaimed human remains);
• An extensive interpretation of the Portuguese Decree-Law No. 274/99, which regulates the dissection of corpses and extraction of parts, tissues or organs for teaching and scientific research, is justified;
• There is no express provision on the transfer to SFU of unclaimed human remains for scientific research, but the Municipal Cemetery Regulation (Edital nº 60/80 do Regulamento dos Cemitérios Municipais) confers the city's cemetery manangement office with the competence to decide on the most appropriate disposal of unclaimed human remains;
• If the city approves the project, a recommendation is made to observe all ethical principles that guide the educational and scientific use of human remains, specifically those related to the protection of anonymity;
• The circulation of human tissue is subjected to legal provisions, varying with each country's legal system and requiring specific administrative and technical steps to undertake (such as the removal, packaging and transportation of human remains that requires mediation of a funeral home);
• The CNECV recommends that a second opinion should be sought from the Portuguese National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal e Ciências Forenses, I.P. - INMLCF).

In January 2016, the INMLCF also provided a report in support of Dr. Cardoso's request. However, the INMLCF's report is a private document and it is not available for public consultation.