Throughout history, there have always been ethical issues in different professions. One of the professions that has more issues now is anything related to science and research. There is no doubt that research can do great good to society by discovering cures for illness and providing new technology that can make life easier for a lot of people. The issue with research is that it has become something that is open to anyone and the boundaries that it has are the ones that were created at least forty years ago. These boundaries must be reviewed so that the research that is not necessary for society or that can harm it are controlled or even prohibited. These boundaries are called Bioethics.
The term “Bioethics” can be divided into two Greek root words that are “Bios” which means life as a whole, and “Ethos” which is about spirit of a culture and how it relates to nature. What this means is that the word as a whole means that the Ethos of a community should be coherent with helping and protecting life (Galindo). Although this term has existed for centuries and was originally created by the Greeks, the ethics themselves were officially first established in the 1970s when the “Knowledge Society” started to develop which was the effect of when new technological and scientific discoveries started affecting the community as a whole. Since that time the area of research has grown and scientists have found that they may even find cures for most of the illness that are most feared by humans (cancer, Parkinson’s, etc.). The down side to this research is that it causes many ethical issues, but there is no legal or established restriction that can stop them from doing it or that can prove that it shouldn´t be done.
On the other hand, research ...
... middle of paper ...
...gh Science. Gale Group, n.d. Web. 29 Nov 2013.
De Cadena, Haydee. E-mail Interview. 27 11 2013.
"Ethical issues in genetic research." World of Anatomy and Physiology. Science in Context,
15 06 2007. Web. 29 Nov 2013.
.
Franco, Adelaida. Personal Interview. 27 11 2013.
Resnik, David. "What is Ethics in Research and why is it Important?." National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, 1 05 2011. Web. 29 Nov 2013. .
Stern, Judy, and Deni Elliot. "The Ethics of Scientific Research." Dartmouth. University
Press of New England Hanover, n.d. Web. 29 Nov 2013. .
Bioethics is the use of morals in science. If there had been more bioethics in Henrietta Lacks’s case, her doctors may have used their morals to not take the cells from her body without her permission or at least let her family know they had. Sixteen years before her case, the Nuremberg Code had been created which stated 10 codes of ethics to be used during human experimentation. However, it was not a law and few doctors even knew it existed.The issue of informed consent was also brought up in 1957 but doctors testified it was unnecessary. However on June 30th, 1974,17 years later, a law was passed requiring informed consent for all federally funded research. The issue of bioethics affected HeLa and many began to doubt if the doctors at Johns Hopkins had really been ethical. In conclusion, Henrietta Lacks and her “immortal” cells helped the field of science and its future
US Enviromental Protection Agency. (2010, December 13). Retrieved January 20, 2011, from US EPA Human Health: http://cfpub.epa.gov/eroe/index.cfm?fuseaction=list.listByChapter&ch=49
Ingram, David, and Jennifer A. Parks. "Biomedical Ethics." The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Ethics. Indianapolis, IN: Alpha, 2002. N. pag. Print.
Bioethics can be considered something that rejects appeals to authority as a foundation for truth (Baumgarten). The fact is that everything said by someone of authority should not make it worthy of acceptance nor does it make it true (Baumgarten). Things that may not be ethical can usually have an appeal to popularity which according to our textbook is when a belief about an issue is based on the popularity of that issue (Vaughn, 2013). However, one should not believe something just because it is a popular topic. ...
...obert J.. Ethics and regulation of clinical research. 2nd ed. Baltimore: Urban & Schwarzenberg, 1986. Print.
Resnik, D. B. U.S. Department of Health and Human Servies, (2011). What is ethics in research & why is it important?. Retrieved from National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences website: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis/
"Ethics in Research." Ethics in Research. The University of Texas Medical Branch, n.d. Web. 11. Feb. 2014 .
What do you think of when you hear or see the word “science”; test tubes, Einstein, Space? Science is “generally taken as meaning either (a) the exact sciences, such as chemistry, physics, etc., or (b) a method of thought which obtains verifiable results by reasoning logically from observed fact” (Orwell). Scientists are those who study science by scientific method. These “men of science”, which Orwell describes as “a biologist, and astronomer, perhaps a psychologist or a mathematician”, “work by means of induction and deduction, and that by the help of these operations, they, in a sort of sense, wring from Nature certain other things, which are called natural laws, and causes, and that out of these, by some cunning skill of their own, they build up hypotheses and theories” (Huxley).
Ethics refers to the values and customs of a community at a particular point in time. At present, the term ethics is guided by the moral principles that guide our everyday actions. These moral principles guide the researcher into deciding what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. The foundation of medical ethics is governed by two philosophical frameworks that are deontology, and utilitarianism. However ultimately the ethics committees need to balance the risks, and benefits for the participants and the community associated with the particular research proposal. This balance is quite important as the well being of participants is at risk.7
Research is viewed as a scientific human endeavour that is organised according to a range of protocols, methods, guidelines and legislation (Gerrish & Lacey, 2010). Research ethics is that domain of enquiry that identifies ethical challenges with a view to developing guidelines that safeguard against any harm and protects the rights of human subjects in research (Rogers, 2008).
Looking back at my memories, I can safely say that I enjoyed two things during primary school; science and reading. Although biomedical science is hardly “plant a seed and watch it grow”, small observations such as the plant certainly sparked some interesting questions for a 10 year old. “How does the seed know which way is up when it’s in the soil? Why does the plant grow towards the sunlight?” It often frustrated me that I could never get the answers to all my questions. Growing up, I still have multitudes of questions without an answer, ranging from science specific questions such as “How can the pandemic of obesity and its related diseases be prevented in the Western World?” to ethical debates; “the gene for converting yellow fat to brown
The question here is should researchers be trusted to make ethical decisions by themselves, relying on their professional competence, experience, and knowledge of ethical principles and standards; or should researchers be overseen by the formal committee to ensure that their work is ethical? Examples of some institutional ethics regulation cases and comparison of research ethics protocols in the academy with journalistic practices described by Haggerty (2004) certainly demonstrate the profound bureaucratization and expansion of the regulatory system. It also shows how inconsistent and sometimes inadequate the system is in interpreting and applying central concepts of research ethics such as “harm”, “risk”, “anonymity”, “informed consent”, “research”, and
The history of medical research in the twentieth century provides abundant evidence which shows how easy it is to exploit individuals, especially the sick, the weak, and the vulnerable, when the only moral guide for science is a naive utilitarian dedication to the greatest good for the greatest number. Locally administered internal review boards were thought to be a solution to the need for ethical safeguards to protect the human guinea pig. However, with problems surrounding informed consent, the differentiation between experimentation and treatment, and the new advances within medicine, internal review boards were found to be inadequate for the job. This led to the establishment of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission by President Bill Clinton in the hopes of setting clear ethical standards for human research.
In an article titled “The Ethical Implications of Gene Therapy” the group of advisers on Ethical Implications of Biotechnology of the European commission states issues and rules that should be abided by, along with beliefs on the direction of biotechnology. At its present stage, biotechnology focuses on serious diseases which are incurable at the moment, however through this research treatment for these diseases could be found. The group of advisers feel that there should be levels at which research should focus on, instead of jumping into it all at once. Basic research should be carried out prior to clinical trials, and then move on to biotechnology. This can be done by supporting research actions, organizing training and exchange programs or any other appropriate means. Gene therapy protocols require that ethical evaluation consists of processes assuring quality, transparency and efficiency without delays of treatment to the patients who need it. This is crucial because an inefficient, poor quality treatment could cost someone their life. The group also feels that gene therapy research should be restricted to serious diseases for which there is not a current treatment. Expanding research to other things could be done if a medical evaluation calls for it. Equal access should be assured to all researchers within the European Union, thus sharing information and helping to improve orphan drugs. This could also save time and money. In order to insure the public of what is going on, conclusions of evaluations should regularly be published to encourage public debate. The public is not usually informed much about genetic therapy and many people have the wrong idea about it. Should reports be published more often, there will be less public confusion and ridicule.
Natural sciences are sciences whose methodology is based on the observation of the physical world. Unlike ethics it is a highly empirical discipline. The basic and perhaps only way used to produce knowledge in the scientific world is through inductive reasoning, as the methodology that is usually followed by scientists involves conducting several experiments and making observations, based on which they make logical conclusions. Ethical judgements hinder the methods of acquiring knowledge through scientific development. Several methods require the interaction with animals, which could end up being harmful for them. Moral codes and values oppose to such situations and therefore encourage us to raise concerns every time there is a potential for scientific research involving animal experimentation. As I learned in my IB Biology course, Xenotransplantation, the transplantation of organs from animals,...