Biology, bioethics and society

Abstract

It is common knowledge that science and technology have advanced at a bewildering, some would say alarming rate over the past decades. The non-scientific lay-person is often left wondering where we are all going, and whether scientists are often engaged in a game which provides great fun for themselves while endangering the stability of the world as we know it. In the biological field, there have been advances particularly relating to unravelling the mysteries to be found in the genetic code, and secondly to utilising the capacity of cells derived mainly from an embryo to grow in vitro and reproduce vital organs and even whole embryos. These two areas have produced brilliant results and have at the same time raised several issues of ethical importance.