1. 13
Ethics and Biotechnology

2. 13.2 Ethic and Biotechnology
Chapter Contents
13.1 What Is Ethics?
13.2 Ethic and Biotechnology
13.3 Economics, The Role of Science, and Communication
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3. 13.1 What Is Ethics?
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4. Ethics identifies a code of values for our actions
13.1 What Is Ethics?
Ethics identifies a code of values for our actions
Bioethics – area of ethics that deals with the implications of biological research and biotechnological applications on humanity, especially regarding medicine
Ask "Should this be done?" not "Can this be done?"
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5. 13.1 What Is Ethics?
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6. Approaches to Ethical Decision Making
13.1 What Is Ethics?
Approaches to Ethical Decision Making
Hippocrates (c. 460–361 B.C.) might be first bioethicist
Hippocratic Oath – "do not kill," "to help, or at least do no harm"
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7. Approaches to Ethical Decision Making
13.1 What Is Ethics?
Approaches to Ethical Decision Making
Two main viewpoints
Utilitarian approach – states that something is good if it is useful, and an action is moral if it produces the "greatest good for the greatest number"
Deontological approach (Kantian approach or duty ethics) – focuses on certain imperatives, or absolute principles, which we should follow out of a sense of duty and which should dictate our actions
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8. 13.1 What Is Ethics? Modern Bioethics
Primarily the work of two ethicists in the 1970s
Joseph Fletcher refined utilitarian or "situational ethics"
Paul Ramsey refined deontology or "objectivism"
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9. 13.1 What Is Ethics? Utilitarianism
Emphasizes consequences, not intentions
Analyze possible consequences to determine course of action which will have the greatest positive effect
Disadvantages:
Must assign a value to what is being considered
Love and family not easily quantified
Quantifiable things, such as material goods and life span could be emphasized
Who does the calculating and assigns the values?
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10. Deontology (objectivism)
13.1 What Is Ethics?
Deontology (objectivism)
There are some absolutes – definitive rules that cannot be broken
Deeply held convictions (may or may not be religious)
Advantage: firm guidelines, clear cut ethical formula for decision making
Disadvantage: rigid, may not take important factors into account, or changes in values
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11. There can be other approaches or blending of the two main approaches
13.1 What Is Ethics?
There can be other approaches or blending of the two main approaches
Key objective is to gather information, consider the facts, and make a thoughtful, informed decision
When debating contentious ethical issues, respect and consider other viewpoints
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12. Statistical probability of a bad event occurring considered
13.1 What Is Ethics?
Statistical probability of a bad event occurring considered
How negative is the possible effect?
Risk assessments
Considers the likelihood that something harmful or unintended will happen in making a decision
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13. 13.1 What Is Ethics? Ethical Exercise Warm-up
A family pulls up to the Grand Canyon in their car. The parents get out to check out a refreshment stand and lock the car doors, leaving three young children asleep in the back seat
Brake not set, after they are some distance away, the car slowly begins to roll toward the cliff
You are the only one who notices
A large man is standing close to where the car is headed
You could push him in front of the car, which would stop is rolling, but he would either be crushed or pushed over the edge. What would you do?
In this class discussion, students should be guided to determine whether they have all the facts in the situation – are the choices really to let the car go over the edge or to sacrifice the one man for the three children.
A utilitarian approach might consider this an ethical trade, one life for three young lives.
An objectivist approach might consider that it is wrong to endanger or kill any human life, no matter the eventual consequences.
Are their other possible choices or alternatives?
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14. 13.2 Ethics and Biotechnology
Scientists met at a conference in Asilomar, CA, in 1975 to discuss the safety and possible consequences of recombinant DNA techniques
Determined that recombinant DNA technology could be controlled in a way that would preserve safety for humans and the environment
Established guidelines for different levels of biosafety containment
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15. 13.2 Ethics and Biotechnology
Cells and Products
Issues of safety
Carcinogenic or teratogenic?
Ethical concern of harming rather than helping
Issue of efficacy (effectiveness)
Humane treatment of animals
Tested in the appropriate species?
Thalidomide was found safe in rodents, but later found to cause birth defects in primates
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16. 13.2 Ethics and Biotechnology
Genetically Modified (GM) Crops: Are You What You Eat?
Several areas of concern
The plant itself (species integrity)
Possible effect of altered plants on the ecosystem and on overall biodiversity
Effects on nontarget species
How will the crop be used? Is it safe to feed to animals? Is it safe for humans?
Consideration of other genes or products present in the GM crop
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17. 13.2 Ethics and Biotechnology
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18. 13.2 Ethics and Biotechnology
GM Crops: Are You What You Eat?
Social and economic questions arise
More abundant food at reduced cost, medically useful compounds are advantages
Advantages may be offset by the potential disadvantages
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19. 13.2 Ethics and Biotechnology
Animal Husbandry or Animal Tinkering
Raises many of the same ethical questions as genetic modification of plants
Effects of genetic modification on products consumed by humans
Is there a point at which the animal might acquire enough human genes, cells, or attributes that you would consider it human?
Chinese scientists have created transgenic cows that express human milk
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20. 13.2 Ethics and Biotechnology
Synthetic Genomes and Synthetic Biology
A synthetic genome has been transplanted into a bacterial strain to change the recipient microbe into the organism of the donor microbe
What should and should not be done with synthetic organisms?
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21. 13.2 Ethics and Biotechnology
The Human Question
Informed consent – patients have the right to be informed fully of the potential effects of the experimental treatment, both good and bad
Placebos – a safe but non-effective treatment
Double-blind trials
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22. 13.2 Ethics and Biotechnology
What Does It Mean to Be Human?
Many ethical debates revolve around the moral status of the human embryo
Is it ethical to destroy early-stage human embryos for research that may potentially treat thousands of patients?
Personhood – used to define an entity that qualifies for protection based not on an intrinsic value but rather on certain attributes, such as self-awareness
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23. 13.2 Ethics and Biotechnology
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24. 13.2 Ethics and Biotechnology
What Does It Mean to Be Human?
Differing viewpoints on embryo research
"Not a person, not a problem"
A form of human life deserving profound respect
An embryo has the same moral value as any other member of the human species
But, does any human cell deserve respect as a potential person?
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25. 13.2 Ethics and Biotechnology
What Does It Mean to Be Human?
Are embryonic stem cells as good for potential treatment as claimed?
What about adult stem cells, or induced pluripotent stem cells?
Is research on embryos necessary to explore all possible avenues for medical breakthroughs?
Or do the alternatives make ethically contentious research unnecessary?
If we use embryos, are we embarking on a slippery slope?
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26. 13.2 Ethics and Biotechnology
Spare Embryos for Research Versus Creating Embryos for Research
Primary source of embryos for research is excess embryos from in vitro fertilization
Another potential source is the creation of embryos for research purposes
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27. 13.2 Ethics and Biotechnology
Should Humans and Other Animals Be Cloned for Any Reason?
Raises many of the same questions, with the added complexity of the technique and the potential identity of the clone
Is creating a cloned embryo with the intent of initiating a pregnancy another type of assisted reproductive technology?
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28. 13.2 Ethics and Biotechnology
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29. 13.2 Ethics and Biotechnology
Should Humans and Other Animals Be Cloned for Any Reason?
Ethical considerations of a human clone include:
How lack of relatedness to one parent might change kinship and family relationships
Expectations put on a clone once born to "live a better life" than the person who was cloned
Expectation to live up to a legacy achieved by the donor of the genetic material
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30. 13.2 Ethics and Biotechnology
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31. 13.2 Ethics and Biotechnology
Should Humans and Other Animals Be Cloned for Any Reason?
Creation of human embryos could lead to matched embryonic cells for patients
Could this lead to human commercialization, making human life a commodity to be bought, sold, and used?
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32. 13.2 Ethics and Biotechnology
Patient Rights and Biological Materials
Physicians do have a duty to disclose the physician's personal interest in research and potential economic matters unrelated to patient treatment
Informed consent
Courts have ruled that donors of cells and other biological materials do not have ownership rights of their biological materials
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33. 13.2 Ethics and Biotechnology
Genetic Information
The Human Genome Project has led to the identification of genes responsible for or contributing to many disease states
This knowledge has led to new strategies for genetic testing and treating genetic disease
Concern over the privacy of DNA information
How genetic information could be used negatively by employers, insurance companies, governmental agencies, or through perceptions by the general public
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34. 13.2 Ethics and Biotechnology
Potential ethical questions from genetic information
Should we test for genetic disorders for which there are no effective treatments?
What ethical obligations do physicians and scientists have to divulge genetic testing results if analysis of a person's DNA reveals mutations unrelated to the original reasons for the test?
How do we effectively communicate the results of genetic tests and actual risks to the person being tested?
Should it be possible for someone to be tested for non-disease-related genets affecting such traits as intelligence, skin color, height or weight?
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35. 13.2 Ethics and Biotechnology
Potential ethical questions, continued
Identifiability, the potential for disseminated genetic data to be associated (or reveal the confidential identity) of specific individuals, is a major concern
How can electronic medical record keeping prevent identifiability even when patients agree to share or release certain aspects of their medical records?
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36. 13.2 Ethics and Biotechnology
Genetic Information
In 2008, Congress passed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA)
Prohibits discrimination based on genetics or the improper use of genetic information in health insurance and employment
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37. 13.2 Ethics and Biotechnology
More or Less Human?
Ethical considerations of gene therapy
Informed consent, safety, and efficacy
What about treatment of the possibility of genetic disease?
With a genetic disease, such as severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome (SCID), the person will develop the disease
With a gene attribute, such as mutations in BRCA1, the person only has an increased probability of disease
Enhancement of individual genetics
Gene doping
Germline genetic engineering
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38. 13.3 Economics, The Role of Science, and Communication
Money plays a major role in research decisions
Patenting of intellectual property may be lucrative, but may also pose ethical and scientific problems
Limited scientific access to gene for other researchers
Should scientists have unlimited freedom for research?
Accurate, honest communication is vital to the success of science
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39. 13.3 Economics, The Role of Science, and Communication
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