Bioethics, Emerging Biotechnologies, and Society: Providing an Ethical Framework for Assessing Emerging Biotechnologies

Abstract

Emerging biotechnologies contribute significantly to societal well-being by influencing social, economic, and health fields. Attitudes toward biotechnologies differ, in various situations and over time, based on new understanding and evidence. One issue always emphasized in the ethical evaluation of emerging technologies is their dangerous and problematic aspects for human life and well-being. Simultaneously, ethical assumptions can influence ethical decision-making toward employing these technologies, including liberty, technological optimism, determinism, the lifecycle, power, the form of life, technology neutrality, ambiguity, uncertainty, dual-use transformative potential, and the challenges that will be raised by them. For the ethical assessment of emerging technology, six principal methodologies are employed. The "principles-based approach" focuses on obtaining the intended goals rather than determining specific requirements, laws, standards, and obligations and avoids checklist design. The ethical principles raised by the principles-based approach are presented in this article, including risk-cost-benefit, adherence to individual rights, sustainability, naturalness, precautionary, trajectory, responsible stewardship, public beneficence, justice and fairness, democratic deliberation, and intellectual freedom.Finally, by presenting a conceptual model in applying the principles above in forming biotechnologies, eighteen operational recommendations are presented to facilitate the ethical evaluation and monitoring of emerging biotechnologies in the policy-making process in Iran.