Bioethics & technology

Bioethics and
Technology
PRESENTED BY;
GROUP 4

TEACH A COURSE 2
Introduction to Bioethics:
1. Principles of Bioethics and Importance of Bioethics.
2. Ethical issues of human reproductive techniques and human
genome project.
3. Ethical aspects of transgenic organisms and GMOs.
4. Ethical aspects of synthetic biology and recent examples.
5. Recent rules of Bioethics their violation, and advances
regarding to Biotechnology & Genetics.

Ethics:
 Ethics are moral
beliefs and rules
about right and
wrong.
 Ethics is also the
study of questions
about what is
morally right or
wrong.
3

4
Bioethics:
 It is derived from Greek word bio-
life and ethicos-moral.
 Bioethics is the philosophical study
of the ethical controversies brought
about by advances in biology and
medicine.
 Bioethicists are concerned with the
ethical questions that arise in the
relationships among life sciences,
biotechnology, medicine, politics,
law, philosophy, and theology.

Bioethics Relates:
Applied Ethics:
applied to
actual ethical
problems.
Biotechnology:
Brain-
computer
interface,
Department
of Defense,
Bioterrorism
.
Clinical Ethics:
Withdrawal and
Withholding Life
Support,
Doctor-Patient
Relationship
Public Health:
Newborn
Screen Blood
Banks,
Vaccinations
, FDA.
Environmental
Ethics:
Genetically
Modified
Food, Air
Pollution.
Animal Rights:
Euthanasia,
Chimeras,
Xenotranspl
antation

History of Bioethics:
 In the 20th century, there have been
numerous unethical & inhumane
experiments performed on human test
subjects in the United States that were
often performed illegally, without the
knowledge, or informed consent of the
test subjects.
 For example: Nazi Experiment
6

Nazi Experiments:
Nuremberg Doctors’ Trial -- 23 German physicians who
either participated in the Nazi program to euthanize
persons deemed "unworthy of life“ or who conducted
experiments on concentration camp prisoners without
their consent were tried.
The trial lasted 140 days. 85 witnesses testified and
almost 1,500 documents were introduced. 16 of the
doctors charged were found guilty. 7 were executed.
7

SomeHorrifyingMedicalExperiments
PerformedOnHumansByNaziDoctors:
page 8

Twinexperiments: Twin
experimentation was
one of Josef Mengele
's main interests.
 These experiments
were cruel and
unthinkable.
 The two main
experiments that
were conducted on
twins were injecting
needles in the child's
eyeball to see if their
eye color would
change and if so,
whose eye would
change faster.
9

He experimented on as many as 1,500 sets of twins imprisoned at
Auschwitz camp. And out of this huge number, just about 200
managed to survive the tests.

Headinjury
experiments:
 They hammered the
heads of little kids.
 It involved strapping of a
young boy to a chair so
that his movements could
be restricted.
 Above his head, was
adjusted a mechanized
hammer that came down
and hit his head in
intervals of every few
seconds! The torture, it
goes unsaid, drove the boy
insane.
11

Bone, muscle, nervetransplantation:
 They wanted to know
about the possibilities
of bone, muscle and
nerve regeneration.
 And for the same, they extracted the bones, and the
other said parts from the subjects without even
administering anesthesia to the subjects.
 Subsequently, the subjects suffered mutilation, sheer
agony, and permanent disability.
1 2

PRINCIPLES OF BIOETHICS
AFRA EJAZ

Bioethical Principles
Standard approach to biomedical ethics
Endorsed by most moral theories
Provide a framework that may facilitate resolution of ethical
problems
Four key principles are; autonomy (respect for autonomy), non-
malefience, beneficence, justice.
Each principle need to be weighed and balanced in determining
an optimal course of action.

Principles of Bioethics
Respect for persons
Autonomy-informed voluntary consent. Protection of vulnerable persons.
Beneficence/Non-Maleficience
Protection of rights.
Investigator-study design.
Well beignets of subjects.
More benefits than risks.
Justice/Non-Exploitation
Fairness.
Equitable recruitment of participants.
Caring of vulnerable group.

Autonomy
Self determination
Elements;
1. The ability to decide.
2. The power to act on your decisions.
3. A respect for the individual autonomy of others.
Justification for paternalism
The lie benefits the person lied to: that is, the lie prevents more evil than it causes for a
specific person.

NON-MALEFICENCE
One ought not to inflict evil or
harm.
BENEFICENCE
One ought to prevent evil or
harm
One ought to remove evil or
harm
One ought to do or promote
good
Confidentially
•A patient’s basic right to expect the information he gives a
health care practitioner to the held undisclosed.
•An important aspect of trust that patient’s place in health care
professional.

Role Fidelity
The duty to honor commitments
Self regulation one of the key elements of profession.
professional codes of ethics are important documents in
the process of self regulation.
Formal justice
Refers to fairness, treating people equally and without
prejudice.

Importance of Bioethics in Healthcare
Healthcare ethics deals with the ethical issues in healthcare, medicine and
science.
Ethical codes and application have long history from ancient era.
In present scenario, both advancement in medical field and challenges are
increasing in same pace for healthcare providers to deal with ethical issues.
Bioethics in healthcare brings understanding and knowledge among
healthcare professionals about medical practice.
Stressing upon the ethical aspects of bioethics, medical professionals are
capable of tagging along ethical codes while practicing especially while
dealing with issues.

Importance of Bioethics
For a decade, science and technology have been divorced from
ethics, and science itself has been relegated to the
philosophers’ elucubrations, which are far away from the reality
of scientific development.
Several universal declarations and codes of medical morality
have emerged in the second half of the twentieth century.
The rights of people were investigated and considered as an
important aspect; humanity began a new stage of world
reflection with reduced abuse.

Bioethics and health law then initiated an interdisciplinary
dialogue between the different groups occupied by
developing science and technology, allowing to reflect the
same time on aspects that are essential in life of men.
In speaking about the future of Bioethics, we must
addressed that in a modern world, participatory democracy
is more evident, in which there are different sectors and
that many of these fields are one of that create laws of
different countries.

EthicalIssuesof Human
ReproductiveTechnologies
MANAHIL KHANUM

HumanReproductiveTechnologies(HRT)
•Contraception: sex without procreation
•HRTs: procreation without sex

TypesofHRTs
•Artificial insemination
by husband (AIH)
•Artificial insemination
by donor (AID)
•In virtro fertilization
(IVF)
•Egg donation
•Embryo Donation
•Surrogacy
•New Genetics
•Human Cloning
•Stem Cell Research
•Sex selection

Arguments for and against
surrogacy

Contractarian
Argumentfor
CommercialSurrogacy
• People have the right
to procreation and to
have a family.
• Gestation can be
regard as a service
akin to baby sitting or
rearing a child for
some else. No buying
or selling baby is
involved.
• Anyone with a sound
mind should be
allowed, with his/her
informed consent, to
enter freely into a
contractual
agreement.

Family-basedArgumentforNon-commercial
Surrogacy
• If the baby has no genetic ties with
the commissioning parents, why not
adoption?
• Gestation is the defining criteria of
mother-child relationship. The
woman who gives birth to a baby is
its mother even in the absence of
genetic ties. This can protect the best
interests of the child. Some feminist
maintains that the pregnant woman
is the first person who has an
intimate relation with the child and
so she deserves to have the baby.
• Commercial surrogacy involves the
buying and selling of baby. It should
therefore be prohibited.

Family-based Argument
• The commissioning parents should follow a
procedure similar to the adoption of baby. The
surrogate mother should be given a grace period for
changing her mind.
• Surrogacy should be permissible only if the baby has
genetic ties with both commissioning parents and
they are married. The result is better than adoption

Best-interests
Argument
AgainstSurrogacy
 The arrangement based on the family
argument does not serve to protect
the interests of all the parties involved,
including the baby, because the
arrangement is unenforceable.
 What will happen if the commissioning
parents change their minds after the
baby is conceived? The surrogate
mother is the true mother and has the
responsibility to rear the baby even if
she does not want to.
 Won’t the commissioning parents be
very upset if the surrogate mother
change her mind during the grace
period.

What will happen if
neither the surrogate
mother nor the
commissioning
parents wants to
keep the baby?
The surrogate mother
may have developed an
emotional tie with the
baby during pregnancy.
Should she be allowed
to visit the baby? Will it
undermine the integrity
of the new family if she
does that?

GeneTesting
Create unnecessary psychological distress.
Discrimination by employers and insurance companies.
Confidentiality and Privacy
Social stigmatization.

PrenatalScreening
Sex selection: Gender discrimination and imbalance of
sex ratio unless it is done solely for therapeutic purpose
(see the later notes for further discussion)
Discrimination: Lives of the disable are not worth living.

Engineerin
g
•Germ-line changes, unlike
somatic modification, can
pass onto the next
generation and be with us
forever. So germ-line
changes could be very risky.
•Genetic therapy *may* be
alright (note that
reproduction without sex or
abortion is involved).
•Is it a form of eugenics? Is
genetic enhancement moral?
•Dignity of a child: Parental
love should not be based on
the traits and the characters
of a child. Children should
not be treated as a means
to please their parents.

Two Techniques
Two techniques:
◦ Embryo splitting
◦ Nuclear substitution

Embryosplitting
The clone is usually used for tests of abnormality, and will be destroyed
subsequently.

NuclearSubstitution
What is the relationship between the nuclear donor and
the clone?
◦ The same person?
◦ (Technologically-aided and birth delayed) identical twins?
◦ Siblings?
◦ Parent-child?
Should a homosexual be allowed to use the technology
to obtain his/her own child?

Nuclear Substitution
Is it moral alright for parents to clone their beloved children who die young or provide
organs for their siblings?
Should it be used as an infertility treatment or gene therapy if it is safe?
◦ No third party is involved.
◦ According to the parent-child ordinance in HK, whoever gives birth to
a baby is its mother, and the husband who goes through the infertility
treatment with her is his father.
◦ Yet, human cloning has been banned by the HRT Ordinance.

Three Types
of Stem Cell
Stem cells:
undifferentiated, multi-
potent, precursor cells,
capable of developing
into virtually any body
tissue.
Three types of stem
cells:
•Embryonic stem
cells (ESC)
•Fetal stem cells
•Adult stem cells

Potential Treatments
ESC is most promising for treatment, and therapeutic cloning
can avoid the problem of immunological incompatibility.
Ethical issues:
◦ Destroying an embryo to harvest ESC is equivalent to killing a child to
obtain his organs.
◦ Therapeutic cloning: The embryo is not created for reproduction.
◦ How about the wellbeing of many patients who may be cured by ESC
research?

Sex Selection: Ethical
or Unethical?

ScopeoftheEthicalIssues
•A paradigm or type case in bioethics.
•The moral controversies arising from sex selection covers most of the major ethical
issues in regard to human reproductive technologies (HRT) because it is a form of
genetic engineering and often involves the use of abortion, infertility treatment (such as
artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization), human cloning and/or other HRT.

ArgumentsAgainst
Conservative arguments:
◦ Abortion is morally wrong.
◦ It is unnatural to separate sex from procreation.
Even early abortion is morally justified in some exceptional cases. The preference for
children’s sex cannot serve as a justification for granting an exception. It does not meet
the criteria for termination of pregnancy.

Arguments against
Biased sex ratio:
◦ when the proportion of woman is lower, they “may be confined to traditional gender roles and
excluded from high-status positions;
◦ when their proportion is higher, misogyny increases, and women are likely to be exploited in
sexual relationships and have difficulty in finding committed male partners.”*
*

•Sex discrimination: Children of different sexes should be treated
equally.
•Reinforces sexism and devalues women as a class

•Dignity of a child: Parental love should not be based on the traits
and the characters of a child. Children should not be treated as a
means to please their parents (see arguments against genetic
engineering).

A feminist strategy for undermining patriarchy:
◦ Choose to have boys and raise them as non-sexists
◦ Choose to have girls so as to cut down the proportion of men, dissociate from the ruling sex
class and establish all-female communities
The impact on sex ratio is largely uncertain if sex selection not for medical reason is
legalized in developed countries.

Some
Reflections
•The root of the
problems is not
technological. Sex
selection per se is not
unethical. Sexism is the
source of the problem.
•Yet unregulated use of
the technology may
reinforce the existing
gender biases or make
the situation even worse.

TRANSGENICORGANISMSANDETHICS
BY IQRA MALIK

PROBLEMS RELATING GMOS
Ethics
• “Playing God”
• Tampering with nature by
mixing genes among species.
Labeling
Not mandatory in some countries
(e.g., Canada and the United States).
• Mixing GM crops with non-GM
confound labeling attempts.

HEALTH RISK OF GENETICALLY
MODIFIED ORGANISMS
health risks
associated
with GM
food
accelerated aging
changes in
major organs
gastrointestinal
system
infertility

GM DIET SHOWS TOXIC REACTIONS IN
THE DIGESTIVE TRACT
•The very first crop ; the FlavrSavr tomato, showed evidence of toxins.
•Out of 20 female rats fed the GM tomato, 7 developed stomach lesions.

REASONS WHY GM PLANTS PRESENT UNIQUE
DANGERS
1. It creates mutations in and around the insertion site and elsewhere creates
unpredicted alterations.
2. A second objection concerns genetic contamination.
3. Third, a GMO, brought into natural surroundings, may have a toxic or lethal
impact on other living things.

4.Fourth, the benefits of GMOs have been oversold by the companies.
5.A fifth argument is that patented GMO seeds concentrate power in the hands of a few
biotech corporations and marginalize small farmers.

LIST OF GMOS DAMAGING THE
ORGANS OF MICE
GNA lectin potatoes smaller and partially atrophied livers.
Monsanto’s Mon 863 corn liver lesions and other indications of toxicity .
Roundup Ready soybeans structural changes in their liver &pancreas of mice
produced less digestive enzymes

GM potato ; pancreas was enlarged & slower growth in the brain
GM soy ; slower growth in the brain
Rabbits fed GM soy ; altered enzyme production

The visible effects of the genetically modified corn NK603 and Roundup over 90 day trial
• 1st rat fed only GM corn
• 2nd rat fed both GM corn and Roundup
• 3rd rat fed only Roundup

REPRODUCTIVE FAILURE AND
INFANT MOTALITY
•The testicles of both mice and rats fed roundup ready soybeans showed
dramatic changes.
•In rats, the organs were dark blue instead of pink.
•In mice, young sperm cells were altered .
•Embryos of GM soy-fed mice also showed temporary changes in their DNA
function, compared to those whose parents were fed non-GM soy

Allergenicity
• Adverse health effects, due in part to research by Hi-Bred in the mid-1990s.
•They discovered that soy bean plants engineered with a gene from Brazil nuts produced
beans that caused an allergic reaction in some people.

Toxicity
•One of the most recent GM crops to be suspected of causing toxicity is the GM maize
line known as MON 863 (YieldGard Rootworm Corn) producing the toxin primarily in the
roots, which is the site of entry for the western corn rootworm.
•There is also a possibility that if foreign gene integrate into human DNA, they could
switch on random genes inside of humans, leading to an overproduction of a toxin,
allergen or carcinogen

Antibiotic resistance
The antibiotic kanamycin is a frequently-used marker for plant modification yet is still
used for treating many human infections.
As the genes have traditionally come from bacteria, human pathogens could increase
their antibiotic resistance.

GMO’S AND CANCER
•Some researchers believe that eating GMO’S can contribute to develop cancer.
•They says that the principle of GMO is creating mutant genome and upon
iteracting the genome of humans while eating it can also produce cancer.

GENETICALLY MODIFIED
HUMAN
Experimentation on humans
• Diminished sense of identity and individuality

GENDER SELECTION AND SEX
CHNGING
•Chinese Calendar
• Monitoring one menstrual cycle
•Monitoring female orgasm
•Vaginal rinsing
• baking Soda and water – boy
• Vinegar and water - girl
• Timing of semen ejaculation

LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT SOME
EXPECTED GMOS

Ethical aspects of synthetic biology and
recent examples.
MINAHIL KHALID.
ROLL NO#25

Ethical aspects in synthetic biology.
Bio-ethics.
Synthetic biology.
It is a branch of science that has
broad ranges, such as ,
biotechnology, genetic
engineering , molecular biology ,
biophysics. etc.
Discipline dealing with the
ethical implications of
biological research and the
applications of that research

Ethical Aspects of
Biotechnology.
Legal.
Food.
Medicine.
Developing
countries & the
poor.
Environment .

Ethical issues in biotechnology.
Socio-
economic
issue
Legal
issues.
Environmental
issues
Religious
issues

ETHICAL ASPECTS IN AGRICULTURE.
There is a need to raise
agriculture productivity
to deal with problems
of poverty and food
security.
Genetic engineering
allows the production of
plants with desired traits
speedily and at low costs.

Ethical aspects of GM food.
• Environmental risk.
• Genes can flow from
modified plants to wild plants
leading to potential threat in
biodiversity.
• Health risk.
• Because of the harmful effects
of GM foods , GM foods should
be properly labelled to allow
people to choose whether to
consume or not to consume
GM foods.

Ethical aspects in Microbiology.
• Microbiologist are facing two kinds of ethical issues.
• During laboratory work.
• Ethical issues on the data/reports they generate for the
patients or in research.

Genetically modified bacteria.
• E.coil bacteria:
Produce clotting factors to treat hemophilia.
• Streptococcus mutants:
Reduce the formation of cavities if properly colonized in mouth.

Ethical issues in modern biology.
Genetically
engineered
organism
release into the
environment
Modification of
gene in the
human germ
line.
Misuse of genetic
screening.

Recent Rules of Bioethics their
Violations & Advances Regarding to
Biotechnology &Genetics
Ariba Nameen
BMMG-17-43

Genetic Technologies & Ethics
• Although genetic technologies have a great potential to change the medical
practice
• It also has a potential to be misused and lead to further health disparities,
discrimination and inequality in the human societies around the world.
• The development and use of technologies such as
• Robotics
• Nano-technology
• Genetic engineering
• Neurotechnology and
• Synthetic biology in combination is expected to become a lethal force in the
hands of governments and non-governmental agents in the future if not
regulated by civil and legal institutions around the world.

General consensus in the world
• The issues of cloning, gene therapy, and embryonic stem cell research have
been at the headlines of many newspapers and magazines for over a decade
in many countries throughout the world.
• Some countries have passed laws on these issues, many countries have not
adopted any position and do not have any laws regarding the application of
genetic technologies.
• The following generalizations can be made regarding the ethical use of new
genetic technologies in the categories discussed :
1. Somatic therapy is widely considered to be ethical and acceptable in the
world because it creates hope to treat diseases such as leukemia.

2. Somatic enhancement is widely considered to be
unethical since it could introduce new forms of
inequality.
3. Germline therapy is supported by most people because
it helps couples at risk of passing on a serious genetic
disease, to decide on having a child free of disease by
means of medically-related trait selection.
4. Germline enhancement is widely considered
unacceptable throughout the world because it serves
no medical purpose. It also could potentially lead to
inequality among one generation over the next without
their consent. Furthermore, changing the nature of
human beings over the long term may have
consequences that can not be predictable at this time.

5. Human genetic trait selection is generally
supported because it allows a couple at risk
of passing on a serious genetically-based
illness to their child a chance to avoid it.
However, genetic trait selection is generally
opposed for non-medical or social purposes
such as selection of a desired sex.
6. Human reproductive cloning is universally
rejected.
7. Cloning for research purposes is supported
in some countries and others strongly oppose
it.

8. Embryonic stem cell research is cautiously supported
because it is argued that the unused embryos resulted during
the IVF procedure should be used for research purposes to
gain knowledge about stem cells.

Policies Of Countries
• Policies of countries around the World
SCR=Stem Cell Research,
IVF= In-vitro fertillization

The Status of Policies of OECD
Countries

Council of Europe:
• The 47-member council of Europe maintains a
bioethics division and has explicitly prohibited
inheritable genetic modification, somatic genetic
modification for enhancement purposes, social
sex selection, and creation of human embryos
solely for research purposes. Council of Europe in
1998 prohibited cloning human beings.
• European Union:
European Union is a 27-member entity

• African Union:
The African Union has passed laws regarding the
inviolability of the human body and the genetic
heritage of the human species.
• Group of Eight (G-8):
The G-8 countries (Canada, France, Germany,
Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the
United States) have called for a worldwide ban on
human reproductive cloning and have called for
close international cooperation to prohibit the
use of somatic cell nuclear transfer to create a
child.

Recent Events
• Bioethics Council Rules Heritable Genome Editing "Ethically
Acceptable" In Certain Circumstances (Jul 18, 2018 by Ruairi J
Mackenzie, Science Editor, Technology Networks )
• Is it ethical to genetically engineer people?
(March 14th, 2019Posted by Rebecca Beyer-NYU.)

• “My first reaction was, ‘This is really bad,'” recalls
Liao, a professor of bioethics, a moral philosopher, and
the director of the College of Global Public Health’s
Center for Bioethics at New York University.
• First, the scientist violated various ethical protocols—
including basic principles such as transparency in
research and international standards developed at the
2015 International Summit on Human Gene Editing.
• Second, he used a gene-editing procedure—known as
CRISPR-cas9—that has not been proven safe.
• And, third, the intervention was not medically
necessary. Because of advances in treatment, people
living with HIV are able to live full and productive lives,
and the sperm of HIV-infected men can be “washed” to
remove the HIV virus (a technique that was used with
the girls’ father).

Chinese court sentences scientist who 'gene-edited'
babies(Issued on: 30/12/2019)
• A Chinese court on Monday sentenced the doctor who claimed to be behind the world’s first gene-
edited babies to three years in prison for illegal medical practice, state media reported.
• He Jiankui, who shocked the scientific community last year by announcing the birth of twins whose
genes had allegedly been altered to confer immunity to HIV, was also fined three million yuan
($430,000), Xinhua news agency said.
• He was sentenced by a court in Shenzhen for “illegally carrying out the human embryo gene-editing
intended for reproduction”, Xinhua said.
• Two of his fellow researchers were also sentenced. Zhang Renli was handed a two-year jail term and
fined one million yuan while Qin Jinzhou was given 18 months, suspended for two years, and fined
500,000 yuan.
• The trio had not obtained qualifications to work as doctors and had knowingly violated China’s
regulations and ethical principles, according to the court verdict, Xinhua said.

• The right to design babies? Human rights and
bioethics
• New developments in gene modifications make it more
urgent than ever to raise societal awareness, and adopt
appropriate measures to enforce existing international
agreements that prevent the creation of genetically modified
human beings.
• By: Roberto Andorno & Alicia Ely Yamin January 8, 2019
• Using CRISPR to edit eggs, sperm, or embryos
does not save lives.
• By Tina Rulli October 15,2019

Bioethicist responds to Japan's approval of human-animal
hybrid research. (3rd August,2019)
• The research involves the implantation of human cells,
typically human stem cells, into non-human animal embryos,
such as embryos from pigs and sheep, for the purposes of
growing human hearts, kidneys, and other organs in those
animals.

• In this Movie, clones
of Important and
Rich people were
made. The purpose
of these clones was
to serve as donors
for Organ
Transplantations.
These clones were
unaware of the
reality.

Is this a Planned Bioterrorism Or Just
An Outbreak???

Conclusion
• Ethical Decisions Ensure That Everyone’s Best
Interests Are Protected.
• When in Doubt, Don’t.

Bioethics & technology

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