Unifying Norms on Bioethics By Lamya Hamad

May 04, 2005

Nouroz, the beginning of the Persian New Year, elegantly unites all sectors of Iranian culture. The International Congress of Bioethics 2005 started five days after the beginning of the solar year 1386, catching the spirit of unity already present in Tehran due to the festivities. The congress, held from March 26 to March 28, came as a suitable follow-up to the ‘Extraordinary Session of the International Bioethics Committee’ held in Paris, France on January 28, 2005. The goal of the committee was to finalize the Preliminary Draft Declaration on Universal Norms on Bioethics. Discussing the Universal Declaration of Bioethics was one of the main topics covered in the congress including ethics and its relation to molecular biology, intellectual property rights, stem cell research, tissue transplantation, and modern gene technology, as well as ethics education. A Gathering of Bioethicists, Scientists and Philosophers One of the most crucial aspects of this congress was the fact that it was held in Iran. It highlighted Iran’s interest in integration with the international community as well as its respect for the development of sciences, especially the biotechnologies. As Dr. Mohammad Hossein Sanati, congress secretary and director of the Iranian National Research Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, said in the opening ceremony, “The Islamic Republic of Iran has chosen biotechnology as one of the priorities for the development of science and technology, and the organization of this event in collaboration with UNESCO is a step towards achieving this goal.” Approximately 86 papers were presented at the conference, 14 of which were from non-Iranian researchers. This gathering attracted scientists and researchers from more than 15 countries. The Arab presence, however, was practically absent if not for two lone participants. This was unfortunate since the Eighth Conference of the Islamic Organization for Medical Sciences (IOMS), which extensively discussed ethical issues in medicine from an Islamic perspective, was held last December (2004) in Cairo, Egypt. This would have been a good opportunity to follow-up issues that are overlapping between medical ethics and bioethics and were already discussed and debated in the IOMS conference. Bioethics is a subject that attracts scholars from various fields due to its intertwining nature and encompassment of philosophy, theology, science and legislation. As Dr. Koichiro Matsuura, Director General of UNESCO mentioned in his opening address, “Scientists, philosophers, policy-makers, the media and the general public should be involved in assessing the social and ethical implications of these remarkable developments. On the one hand, the media bring us daily reports of findings in science that have the potential to be used in medical treatments and applied towards prevention of diseases. On the other hand, certain applications of biotechnology and genetics arouse a profound fear and anxiety that the sanctity of human life might be compromised and human dignity violated if careful ethical consideration is not given to these applications.” The applications Matsuura referred to include sensitive topics such as stem cell research, cloning, and the patenting of genes. However, the difficulty is not in deciding what discoveries and situations pose ethical dilemmas, as Matsuura pointed out. The challenge lies in how bioethics can be more universal in its approach to problem-solving. Matsuura referred to the efforts the UN is undergoing to absolve obstacles related to bioethical dilemmas. “The difficulty that the United Nations has faced in drafting a human cloning declaration illustrates the complexity of bioethical discussion within the international community, where those from different religious and cultural backgrounds come together to address such matters as the beginning of life and the protection of embryos…Nevertheless, our task is to find an internationally harmonized way to resolve bioethical dilemmas, respecting the different cultures and values existing in different societies. One set of values should not be imposed on other societies, nor should the particular needs and situations in different regions of the world be neglected.” Dr. Orio Ikebe from the UNESCO Division of Ethics of Science and Technology Social and Human Sciences Sector believes that the role of bioethics "is to tell us how to make decisions (the reasoning behind it) but not what decisions to make." Deciding What’s Right How to decide what is moral or ethical is not always clear cut. Recent controversies over sensitive issues such as gene patenting may be just the beginning in a long series of complex ethical decisions yet to show in the future. Matsuura explained that the “question of intellectual property rights in the field of genetics” was sparked four years ago when it was announced that the mapping of the human genome was near completion. This announcement encouraged UNESCO to organize an international symposium on “Ethics, Intellectual Property Rights and Genomics” from January 30 to February 1, 2001 in Paris. As mentioned in Understanding Bioethics, a book prepared by the Secretariat Congress of the International Congress of Bioethics, “The bioethical question to be answered is whether or not the genetic information can be patented, as it can be argued that all biological material is an inherent property of nature and thus shared by all living beings.” For example, should a discovered DNA sequence be patented because some sort of benefit has come of it? The goal should be, as stated in the book, “to dedicate such findings to society rather than churning profits out of it.” Biotechnology companies argue that the cost of research in these fields is overwhelming and “that they need to claim intellectual property rights over their discoveries to recoup their expenses, to turn a profit for shareholders, and to sustain further research.” One of the papers presented on patenting of genes was by Farhad Emam, a legal researcher, and Dr. Farzaneh Mirzajani, academic member of the Iranian National Research Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology. Dr. Farzaneh Mirzajani argued that gene patenting, especially human genes, reduces life to a commodity which demeans the sanctity of human life. He supported this by quoting R. Cole Turner, Professor of Theology and Ethics at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, who said, “Life is a sacred gift from God the Creator. As a gift from God, life has intrinsic value. The patenting of genes, the building blocks of life, tends to reduce it to its economic worth.” Mirzajani focused on the consequentialist approach to resolve ethical dilemmas. This approach encourages decisions that are based on what gives the largest benefit to the largest number of people. Hence, the decision is made in favor of patenting if the benefits outweigh the risks to the largest number of people. If it is proven that this technology is “detrimental to social interests,” then gene patenting should be stopped. Genetics and Rapid Breakthroughs Genetics in general received much attention at the Congress due to the rapid rate of discoveries in this arena. Apart from genetic patenting, other subjects were discussed including cloning, genetically modified organisms, genetic counseling and genetic therapy. Discussions on genetically modified organisms revolved mainly around the agricultural perspective, such as modified crops and plants and the risks of transferring these genes to our environment. The session on genetic counseling, a relatively new field of work, spewed a large amount of question marks on the feasibility of selective abortion. Dr. Nasrin Ghasemi from the Medical Genetics Department at Yazd Medical Sciences University concluded that, "A good counselor will explain the outlook for a child with abnormality and describe what treatment might be necessary. Patients should choose whether to prepare for a child with disabilities or to end the pregnancy."   Another topic discussed that has received worldwide attention was the issue of stem cells. The difficulties of finding organs for transplantation or tissues to restore the pancreas for diabetes sufferers, for example, have led scientists to search for alternatives. The four main sources of organs are living related donors, living unrelated donors, cadaveric donors, and xenotransplantation (donors from other species). Each one of these methods has certain ethical implications. Another way would be to depend on a person's own stem cells to repair damaged tissue in the body, a characteristic unique to stem cells. Stem cells are cells that have the ability to differentiate into many different cell types and can self-renew indefinitely. There are many sources of stem cells such as embryos, fetal tissue, the umbilical cord and several adult organs like bone marrow. A new aspect of organ transplantation is known as organ repairment. This was discussed in a paper presented by Dr. Behrouz Nikibin, from the Department of Immunology, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (the paper was also prepared by Mandana Moyeddin Bonab, PhD, and Fatemeh Talebian, MSc). Unlike embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells do not have the same major ethical controversies and thus have a less bumpy future in ethics. “There are serious ethical questions regarding embryonic stem cell usage…Therefore, we should be on the look out for alternative sources, at this time being the adult stem cell.” This could open new and possibly safer avenues of research, said Nikbin. “This new way of treatment opened up a new horizon in medical practice and research, allowing for replacement therapies that could prove as the way of the future, and keys to solving the problem of certain incurable ailments. Stem cells could also compensate for the shortage of organ tissues.” However, there is always the danger of tumorigenicity, he explained, because stem cells can turn into cell lines which may transform into cancer. After numerous presentations and some discussions, the first draft of the Tehran Statement on Bioethics was distributed on the last day of the congress. In the statement, the need for a multidisciplinary and multicultural approach was recognized. Included in the drafting of the universal code of bioethics, was the need to take different religions, cultural, and moral values into consideration as emphasized in the draft’s introduction. This congress represented one step towards the development of Universal Norms on Bioethics. Source IslamOnline.net