Bioethics in Japan: 1991–1993

Abstract

Between 1991–1993, the Japanese government and various professional associations took action on three major issues: (1) several attempts were made to legislate organ transplants from donors declared dead according to brain-death criteria; (2) outcome data were released on various human reproductive technologies including microinsemination and embryo transfer, multiple pregnancies and selective reduction of fetuses, surrogate motherhood, preimplantation genetic diagnosis and human cloning; and (3) the government approved limited use of human gene therapy and discussed a number of ethical issues that it raises.