Ethics and Biotechnology

Chapter 13
 What is Ethics?

 It considers social and moral aspects and

potential outcomes of the use of biological and
medical techniques
 Ask yourself, “Should this be done?” and then
“How can it be done in the right way?”
 What is Ethics?

 Approaches To Ethical Decision Making

• The FIRST: Hippocratic Oath-”do not kill” or “to help
or at least do not harm”

• Two approaches:
• Utilitarian or consequences-the ends justify the means
• Deontological or objectivism-there are at least some
absolutes (definitive rules that cannot be broken)
 What is Ethics?

 Ethical Exercise Warm-Up

• Should you push that guys in front of the car
containing 3 children or not?
Biotechnology and Nature

Asilomar Conference- called for a

moratorium on DNA recombinant research
until guidelines could be established
 Biotechnology and Nature
 Cells and Products
• What are some of the ethical considerations associated
with animal trials for human drugs?
• Safety
• Efficacy
• Humane treatment of animals in studies
• How many animals and which animal model? (e.g. thalidomide
was originally tested in rodents and found safe however, after
birth defects occurred, it was then tested in marmosets and birth
defects occurred in the baby monkeys)
 Biotechnology and Nature
 GM Crops: Are You What You Eat?
• Areas of concern:
• Do the alterations in the plant benefit it or at
least do not produce a less vigorous plant?
• Is the integrity of the species maintained?
• Is the biodiversity of the species altered or the
biodiversity of any insects dependent on this
plant?
• What is the statistical probability of a bad event
happening (e.g. transfer of the gene to another
plant)?
• How safe is the new product? (e.g can humans
become allergic to Bt?)
• What are the social and economic ramifications of
introducing this plant? (e.g. farmers who recycle
Roundup-Ready soybeans and therefore are
stealing from Monsanto)
 Biotechnology and Nature
 Animal Husbandry or Animal Tinkering
• Raises some of the some questions as in plant tinkering
• What are some of the early modifications? (antibiotics and
hormone treatments)
• There is little concern about the effect of genetically modified ag
animals on the environment, but is this appropriate? The effect on
biodiversity?
• What about species integrity? Consider whether there is a point at
which the animal might acquire enough human genes to be
considered human? (what defines being a human?)
 Biotechnology and Nature
 The Human Question
• Controversial issues surround the testing of drugs on
humans, why?
• Who should get the drug (the sickest?)
• Why is informed consent so important-do you think
parents should be allowed to decide for a child?
• The placebo problem in the double-blind test (someone
is going to get a “sugar” pill)
 Biotechnology and Nature
 What Does It Mean to Be Human?
• Current ethical debates revolve around the moral status of the
human embryo—is it a human being?
• Does it qualify for personhood (defines an entity that qualifies for
protection based not on an intrinsic value but rather on certain
attributes such as self-awareness)
• AND what about the idea of creating embryos for an ES cell source
vs spare or disregarded embryos?
• AND does creating embryos lead to human commercialization-
making human life a commodity to be bought and sold?
 Biotechnology and Nature
 Regulations in Flux
• Federal ban on federal funding of stem cell research
has been reversed.
 Biotechnology and Nature
 More or Less Human?
• What are the implications of germline genetic
engineering? (Who decides what makes a better
human being? What changes are allowed?)
Economics, The Role of Science,
and Communication

 Grant funding is based on peer review