BIOETHICS

“Bio” meaning life and “ethics” refers to intellectual and moral senses.

Bioethics is the combination of philosophy and biology; it totally deals with the ways/rules and principles of life one should live with.

Need to study bioethics:

BIOETHICS

“Bio” meaning life and “ethics” refers Bioethics is the combination of philosophy and biology; it totally deals with the ways/rules and principles of life one should live with.

Need to study bioethics:

Nowadays, the number of controversies in the field of biology is increasing at an alarming rate. In such a situation, it is important to teach the method of ethical considerations to young researchers again and again. Naturally, if a particular ethical consideration is reminded again and again, the concept of values and ethics becomes revived in the individual; though not completely, but to a certain extent. It is important to note that ethical concerns are important in all domains of life, including, study, job, lifestyle etc. In biology, ethical concerns become most important when we start deal with medical practice and policies.

Some ethical principles which should be followed always are: –

1) Honesty

Every person should strive for honesty in all scientific communications like research publications, book writing and research. Adequate care should be taken that data is not fabricated at all.

2) Following all objectives correctly

Objective of all research work in the world is to bring some new information, technique and research for the welfare of the society. For fulfilling this objective, the research work done should be totally free of bias. All experiments should be done correctly at a particular time.

3) Intellectual Property Rights

Care should be taken to follow all the intellectual property rights, novelty, non-obviousness

4) Open mindedness

Whatever research has been done should be shared with the public resources; so that others also come to know about the work. Healthy criticism should always be accepted. If data has been taken from any reliable sources, then adequate citations should be given to that. Plagiarism should be completely discouraged and acknowledgements should always be given to those who are related with the research. Publications should be done keeping public welfare on the forefront. Mentoring of students interested in research should be done; without personal interest. A researcher should always be open-minded. He/She should always perform his/her task as a social responsibility.

5) Follow laws

All laws related to the organisation in which you are working should be followed strictly. If any communications, papers, trade secrets are there, then confidentiality should be maintained in keeping them. Government laws should also be studied, and should be followed with strict compliance. For e.g. if a person is working on an environment related issue, then EIA guidelines should be studied well.

6) Responsible Publication

As a universal bioethical concept, everything in the world that has been researched should be published. Until and unless publication is done, no one will know about the ideas. If anyone is not doing so, then he or she is depriving the world from a research related information.

7) Non-Discrimination

Discrimination on basis of caste, rich, poor should be completely avoided. Sometimes, discrimination is done in research institutes based on competence of the concerned person. This should also be avoided. Every capable and interested person in research should be given due respect.

8) Animal Care

If a research is involving animals, then all laws related to animal rights should be followed. Care should be taken not to kill the animal, if not required. Drug given to the animal should be tested thoroughly and toxic concentration of the drug should not be given. Overall, minimisation of risk to animals should be taken care of.

9) Ethical advice

It is recommended that every person starting a research of working on any platform of biology should first look in ethical considerations by him-self or herself. He/She should also discuss about bioethics with his friends, relatives, seniors and various internet portals.

Necessity of bioethics:

1. In healthcare:

If a clinician lacks ethics, then definitely the work done by him will also be impacted. He may not give that medical advice and cure to this patient which his actually required. All clinicians, doctors, pharmacists etc. should follow an ethical code of conduct; and this code of conduct should be set up by hospitals, government agencies etc.

In Research:

As discussed in the first section, ethics in research is very important. Aims of research should always be to provide authentic and relevant information to mankind; and not just personal interest. If this is done, then only the actual aim of research will be fulfilled.

If norms are followed, then only fresh and better talent will come to the forefront, and will ultimately generate revenue for the government and society in one or the other way.

There are several reasons why it is important to adhere to ethical norms in research.

Most research work is done in collaboration with friends, colleagues, seniors and juniors. Many high level people want their names in research papers even when they have actually not worked on the project. Some want more importance than the other. Sometimes, researchers add the names of their friends and colleagues in the research paper just to give them a favoUr. These types of practices always demotivate new researchers and discourage the practice of further research.

I once again repeat, if animals are used in research, then care for following animal rights should be taken. If the research can be accomplished without actually killing the organism, then it should be done in that way. If severe requirement for animal killing is there for the purpose of research, then animal killing should always be least.

Some researchers publish the same paper in two different journals. Some others use statistical techniques and experiments which are totally useless and inappropriate. Some people are in a practice of exploiting their juniors and fellow colleagues; all these practices are unethical. Therefore, ethics in research is a topic to be dealt very seriously.

Bioethics related laws

In USA, NIH and NSF are two agencies who have made it mandatory to do training in ethics before conducting any research.

It is necessary for all countries to make adequate laws so that bioethics is followed all around the world.