Great question, Priya. We certainly will talk about this and see if we can come up with a simple explanation.
By the way, I hope you are all thinking of questions to ask Dr. Frankel. I have not seen any other postings or comments about this. Please do prepare for the talk tomorrow. "So, tell us about ethics in science," is not quite the question we should be asking. Please think of specific areas you would like to discuss.
vijaya
Some thoughts...
Is there a global overseeing authority to judge ethics questions in the scientific community around the world?
There have been several reports of how medicines developed in the US (FDA approved) are duplicated in several other countries, India included, for much less cost. Does this come under unethical practice in science?
Plagiarism is not made a big deal - no accountability in some countries. How is this handled?
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The Greenpeace/Sea Shepherd whaling incident is a result of a single exception to the law: That hunting whales is illegal EXCEPT for scientific research.
Should science really be privileged in this manner, having legal immunity against environmental concerns like hunting of endangered species?
Ma'am,
Im not quite sure how to frame this question, but I did want to ask about the James Watson incident in England,when he allegedly made racist remarks about the comparative intelligence of native africans.
While some could claim that he was speaking from 'a scientific' perspective, dont scientists have to shoulder the responsibility of keeping such social concerns in mind?
If scientific research did unearth such genetic differences, how would science deal with it...and the social and political implications of such a finding?
Krish. Watson has always had a reputation for saying such things. His books also have the same style. It obviously doesn't make it right.
But, you could definitely bring up the question of social responsibilty of scientists. Especially in this context. You may have heard of the case of the Harvard (or MIT professor) doing a similar thing.
vijaya
ok...after coming across this article, my question is - is it right to make it a legislation and make it mandatory for children, esp girls to take this vaccine? doesn't it single out women in some way? also why have no steps been taken for men? also the article says that parents can opt out of the program only on religious ground. so what good does that do?
the link to the article is http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/03/us/03texas.html?_r=1&ex=1173330000&en=da4328f6a3305036&ei=5070&oref=slogin
also, a while ago i came across a debate on whether it is ethical for pharmaceutical companies to charge exorbitant rates for live saving drug. where does ethics come into play here? i understand that everyone is out to make money, but isn't saving a life more important? many people end up dying or going into debt because they cant afford crucial meds.
here is a link to some info i found on over priced meds affecting people.
http://archive.democrats.com/preview.cfm?term=Drugs%20-%20Prescription
Ma'am
Could we ask if religion has an important role to play with the ethical issues raised by technology, like cloning, for example?
Because of all the medicines the americans are prescribed, their bodies have lower immunity etc compared to ours. And we dont have ppl who are allergic to things like peanuts etc whereas they do now. This was nonexistant a few years back. So effectively their race is growing weaker in that aspect
question is can the doctor bring himself to not prescribe medicines for the greater good of the race in the future? How does one mentally justify long term solutions if it affects the short term solutions adversely
I have been reading a lot on the controversies surrounding GM crops and I want to ask a question regarding the same. Not really quite sure how to frame it. Isn't there a violation of the organism's intrinsic values while modifying its gene? How ethical is this? Also how right is it to mix animal genes in plants and vice versa? Are we not tampering with nature's way?
Nina. I was not able to access your first link. However, over-priced medication is a good issue to talk about. But, it may be a business ethics issue - don't you think? Bring it up and see what he has to say.
Dhara - religion and ethics is a good point to bring up because ethical right is often decided by religion.
IMJ - I am not sure if there is proof out there that says allergies are due to overprescription of medicines. You may want to research this a little. If anyone else has seen something like this, please comment. We will discuss this.
Priya - GM crops have lots of issues associated. I had never though of this as an ethics question before. Yes, it is true nature is being meddled with, but...
This is a question related to the story in NYT regarding Karl Helge Hampus Svensson, the man who was convicted of hate murder.
Can a criminal be allowed to become a doctor?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/health/views/29docs.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&ref=science&adxnnlx=1202054982-QVrUD5JEaXfeQrwgsfNElw
There was this story in the BBC regarding doctors in transit. A polish doctor travels 12 hours a day from Poland to UK and then works for another 7 hours.
Is it right to allow a doctor who is up and about for 19 hours a day to treat patients?
1. Is it not only unfair to him but also his patients?
2. Is it right for the hospital to acquire the services of long distance doctors?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/7187094.stm
Copyright issues with DNA - there are companies patenting gene sequences - if you or I have those sequences, does that mean we no longer own our own bodies? How do we address the interests of IP owners and the general public in this context?
General one: What's the duty of a scientist who discovers that there's a
breach of ethics or some misconduct in a project/program/whatever in his
opinion. At what point is it binding on someone to take a stand?
With regard to embryonic stem cells:
1. how does one ensure that it is only for therapeutic cloning and one shall not misuse it for reproductive cloning?
2. when we create a human being, do we have a right to destroy it for ourselves?
An embryo, not a sperm and an egg alone
should we really destroy it so that we can benefit from it in some way?
we know that clones are distinct from each other - identical twins. But do i have the right to destroy a clone of myself once it's made?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080105140107.htm
Not too sure but I vaguely remember there were cheap drugs being sold to people some months/years ago turned out, those drugs were not FDA approved yet, and they were testing on the 3rd world.
what can we do to prevent that kind of thing from happening again?
Shouldn't pharmas be regulated in some way?
For example, Indian patent law gives the regulatory body the right to sublicense a drug to another company no matter who owns the patent with a licence fee paid to the original patentor, which is determined by the patent office. The result of this is that indian medicines are orders of magnitude cheaper and just as effective.
Hi,
Questions related to cloning :
1. IRBs : Institutional review boards. These are seen as the policy mechanisms to regulate cloning of any kind. What is his stance on their efficacy?
2. Informed consent : On one side there is not knowing what the future may turn up. On the other side, there is consent. So, does a one-time consent hold good? How does one ensure that the donor's rights are not infringed upon?
3. What is his stance on reproductive cloning?
4. If legislation to ban research on reproductive cloning is passed, then it becomes a criminal act. What is his stance on bringing criminal charges on research?
- Sruthi
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