Bio-Ethics
The issue of bio-ethics presents a myriad of new
dilemmas; all of which have arisen in the recent past, and must be addressed in
the near future. The majority of these questions stem from the introduction of
new, genetically-engineered organisms. These organisms, or at least many of
them, are created in laboratories, by gene splicing, swapping, etc. and
essentially, these scientists are playing god, creating biological entities as
they want them. This is the main source of the controversy.
In more
developed countries where genetically engineered disputes may ensue, the trend
is total protection through patents and other regulatory and monitoring
agencies. These problems come about from identification of the new
bio-engineered organisms, and this approach allows the industries and
entrepreneurs to recover the enormous costs involved in the research and
development of genetic engineering. It promotes the development of products to
benefit society, and it allows access for a larger genetic bank for analyses,
experimentation, and investigation. There is a second side to this coin-it means
that the researchers can assert an excessive price to their ‘product' while
eliminating any competition for a given period of time. It allows for copies of
living things to be made easily and inexpensively. This happens outside the
United States, where strict regulations are not in continuity with those
pirating compact discs in Japan, bottling Coca Cola in India, etc. No countries
spend any monetary amount comparable to the over 300 million dollars to run the
patent and trademark office, as the U.S. does.
Another observation can be
made that because of the time involved and the cost that the free flow of
information is inhibited between researchers.
These arguments all take place
under the umbrella that "Life forces can be controlled by ownership." Many
countries take the view that these genetic products are not intellectual
property, and as such, not subject to the conventional patent laws. These
properties should not be protected and belong to society as much as any organism
which has naturally evolved through normal processes.
GATT (General
Agreement on Trade and Tariff) has attempted to address this issue through a
larger commercial / trade package; however, this is a position in which very
little agreement among parties is found. In this case, the outcome will most
likely be the elimination of the issue in favor of reaching a trade agreement
which has acceptability throughout the economic community. No matter which
aspect of the bio-ethical issue is being analyzed, the controversy continues
throughout the field. The numbers of these problems mounts exponentially as
science evolves; however, it is not soon that we will see the resolution of but
a very small percentage of these problems regardless of the constantly
augmenting quantities of them.