Nanotechnology and Ethics – European Public Policies

Abstract

The global dissemination of science and technology is transforming bioethics increasingly into a global intellectual and practical activity. Research projects are undertaken in multiple international centres with more and more research subjects being recruited in developing countries. Medication is distributed all over the globe. Healthcare practices are increasingly standardised although guidelines and legislative frameworks may differ or even be absent. This globalisation of science and healthcare makes the benefits of scientific and technological progress, at least theoretically, available to all citizens of the world. However, we know that in practise the benefits and burdens of scientific development are not equally distributed. Poorer countries are often excluded from the benefits of biomedical progress. Vaccination programmes for infectious diseases, for example, are frequently not used in the least developed countries because of lack of resources. There is also the risk that different legal and moral standards are applied in different regions of the world. While in western countries detailed legislation regulates the conduct of clinical trials, less developed countries have experiences of ‘unauthorized’ research since they do not have appropriate legislation or ethical review committees. Scientific development, technological innovation and environmental protection are often the focus of close attention of policy-makers in more developed countries. One of the effects can be that research consortia and pharmaceutical companies are transferring their activities to less developed countries where legal frameworks and public oversight are less extensive. Especially Africa is sometimes regarded as the dustbin of the world. This danger is illustrated by the recent scandal over toxic waste in the Ivory Coast as well as the movie The Constant Gardener.