Bioethics is both a field of study and professional practice,interested in ethical issues related to health,including those emerging from advances in biology,medicine,and technologies. It proposes the discussion about moral discernment in society and it is often related to medical policy and practice,but also to broader questions as environment,well-being and public health. Bioethics is concerned with the ethical questions that arise in the relationships among life sciences,biotechnology,medicine,politics,law,theology and philosophy. It includes the study of values relating to primary care,other branches of medicine,ethical education in science,animal,and environmental ethics,and public health.
Human genetic enhancement or human genetic engineering refers to human enhancement by means of a genetic modification. This could be done in order to cure diseases,prevent the possibility of getting a particular disease,to improve athlete performance in sporting events,or to change physical appearance,metabolism,and even improve physical capabilities and mental faculties such as memory and intelligence. These genetic enhancements may or may not be done in such a way that the change is heritable.
A designer baby is a baby whose genetic makeup has been selected or altered,often to exclude a particular gene or to remove genes associated with disease. This process usually involves analysing a wide range of human embryos to identify genes associated with particular diseases and characteristics,and selecting embryos that have the desired genetic makeup;a process known as preimplantation genetic diagnosis. Screening for single genes is commonly practiced,and polygenic screening is offered by a few companies. Other methods by which a baby's genetic information can be altered involve directly editing the genome before birth,which is not routinely performed and only one instance of this is known to have occurred as of 2019,where Chinese twins Lulu and Nana were edited as embryos,causing widespread criticism.
Bartha Maria Knoppers,OC OQ is a Canadian law Professor and an expert on the ethical aspects of genetics,genomics and biotechnology.
Gregory Stock is an American biophysicist,best-selling author,biotech entrepreneur,and the former director of the Program on Medicine,Technology and Society at UCLA’s School of Medicine. His interests lie in the scientific and evolutionary as well as ethical,social and political implications of today's revolutions in the life sciences and in information technology and computers.
The Hastings Center is an independent,nonpartisan bioethics research institute and think tank based in Garrison,New York.
The Nuffield Council on Bioethics is a UK-based independent charitable body,which examines and reports on bioethical issues raised by new advances in biological and medical research. Established in 1991,the Council is funded by the Nuffield Foundation,the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust. The Council has been described by the media as a 'leading ethics watchdog',which 'never shrinks from the unthinkable'.
Ruth Macklin is an American philosopher and retired professor of bioethics.
Christoph Rehmann-Sutter is a philosopher and bioethicist. He is holding a professorship for theory and ethics in biosciences at the Institute for History of Medicine and Science Studies at the University of Lübeck in Germany.
I. Glenn Cohen is a Canadian legal scholar and professor at Harvard Law School. He is also the director of Harvard Law School's Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy,Biotechnology,and Bioethics.
Return of results is a concept in research ethics which describes the extent of the duty of a researcher to reveal and explain the results of research to a research participant.
Adrienne Asch was a bioethics scholar and the founding director of the Center for Ethics at Yeshiva University in New York City. She was also the Edward and Robin Milstein Professor of Bioethics at the Wurzweiler School of Social Work and Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine,which are both graduate professional schools at Yeshiva University. She also held professorships in epidemiology and population health and in family and social medicine at Yeshiva's Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Françoise Elvina BaylisFISC is a Canadian bioethicist whose work is at the intersection of applied ethics,health policy,and practice. The focus of her research is on issues of women's health and assisted reproductive technologies,but her research and publication record also extend to such topics as research involving humans,gene editing,novel genetic technologies,public health,the role of bioethics consultants,and neuroethics. Baylis' interest in the impact of bioethics on health and public policy as well as her commitment to citizen engagement]and participatory democracy sees her engage with print,radio,television,and other online publications.
Human germline engineering is the process by which the genome of an individual is edited in such a way that the change is heritable. This is achieved by altering the genes of the germ cells,which then mature into genetically modified eggs and sperm. For safety,ethical,and social reasons,there is broad agreement among the scientific community and the public that germline editing for reproduction is a red line that should not be crossed at this point in time. There are differing public sentiments,however,on whether it may be performed in the future depending on whether the intent would be therapeutic or non-therapeutic.
Intersex people are born with natural variations in physical and sex characteristics including those of the chromosomes,gonads,sex hormones,or genitals that,according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights,"do not fit the typical definitions for male or female bodies". Such variations may involve genital ambiguity,and combinations of chromosomal genotype and sexual phenotype other than XY-male and XX-female. Preimplantation genetic diagnosis allows the elimination of embryos and fetuses with intersex traits and thus has an impact on discrimination against intersex people.
The He Jiankui affair is a scientific and bioethical controversy concerning the use of genome editing following its first use on humans by Chinese scientist He Jiankui,who edited the genomes of human embryos in 2018. He became widely known on 26 November 2018 after he announced that he had created the first human genetically edited babies. He was listed in Time magazine's 100 most influential people of 2019. The affair led to ethical and legal controversies,resulting in the indictment of He and two of his collaborators,Zhang Renli and Qin Jinzhou. He eventually received widespread international condemnation.
Eric M. Meslin PhD is a Canadian-American philosopher-bioethicist and current President and CEO of the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA).
Charmaine DM Royal is a Jamaican-American geneticist and is the Robert O. Keohane Professor of African &African American Studies,Biology,Global Health,and Family Medicine &Community Health at Duke University. She studies the intersections of race,ethnicity,ancestry genetics,and health,especially as they pertain to historically marginalized and underrepresented groups in genetic and genomic research;and genomics and global health. Her major interest is in addressing root causes and implementing sustainable solutions regarding problems of race and racism in research,healthcare,and society. Royal is a Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) Independent Expert Committee (IEC) member appointed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and is a 2020 Ida Cordelia Beam Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Iowa.
Eftychia ("Effy") Vayena is a Greek and Swiss bioethicist. Since 2017 she has held the position of chair of bioethics at the Swiss Institute of Technology in Zurich,ETH Zurich. She is an elected member of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences.
Wylie Burke is a Professor Emerita and former Chair of the Department of Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Washington and a founding co-director of the Northwest-Alaska Pharmacogenomics Research Network,which partners with underserved populations in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.
