Main description:

The Europaische Akademie zur Erforschung von Folgen wissenschaftlich-tech- scher Entwicklungen Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler GmbH is concerned with the sci- tific study of the consequences of scientific and technological advance for indiv- ual and societal life and for the natural environment. The main focus is the exa- nation of mid- and long-term processes that are especially influenced by natur- and engineering sciences and the medical disciplines. As an independent scientific institution, the Europaische Akademie pursues a dialogue with politics and society. The work of the Europaische Akademie is mainly conducted by temporary int- disciplinary project teams that develop recommendations for al long-term reliable science and technology policy. Above that, the Europaische Akademie organises international conferences on timely issues that are connected to its research p- gramme. The present volume aims at attracting attention to moral problems caused by the globalisation of medicine and the life-sciences. Finding acceptable and re- able solutions for these bioethical problems will to a large extent determine the quality of our living together in an increasingly small world.

Contents:

Cultural Rationality and Moral Principles.- Morality and Culture: Are Ethics Culture-Dependent?.- Neither Golden Nugget nor Frankenstein. The need to Re-embed Food Biotechnologies in Sociocultural Contexts.- Beyond GM Foods: Genomics, Biotechnology and Global Health Equity.- Patents on Biomaterial - A New Colonialism or a Means for Technology Transfer and Benefit-Sharing?.- From the Corporeal to the Informational: Exploring the Scope of Benefit Sharing Agreements and their Applicability to Sequence Databases.- Access to Essential Drugs, Human Rights and Global Justice.- Access to Essential Drugs: the Ethical Challenge of Allocating Obligations.- Why is it Morally Wrong to Clone a Human Being? How to Evaluate Arguments of Biopolitics, Biomorality, and Bioethics.- Bioethics and (Public) Policy Advice.