Van Rensselaer Potter created and defined the term "bioethics" in 1970, to describe a new philosophy that sought to integrate biology, ecology, medicine, and human values. Bioethics is often linked to environmental ethics and stands in sharp contrast to biomedical ethics. Because of this confusion (and appropriation of the term in medicine), Potter chose to use the term "Global Bioethics" in 1988. Potter's definition of bioethics from Global Bioethics is, "Biology combined with diverse humanistic knowledge forging a science that sets a system of medical and environmental priorities for acceptable survival."

This Dictionary presents a broad range of topics relevant in present-day global bioethics. With more than 500 entries, this dictionary covers organizations working in the field of global bioethics, international documents concerning bioethics, personalities that have played a role in the development of global bioethics, as well as specific topics in the field.The book is not only useful for students and professionals in global health activities, but can also serve as a basic tool that explains relevant ethical notions and terms. The dictionary furthers the ideals of cosmopolitanism: solidarity, equality, respect for difference and concern with what human beings- and specifically patients - have in common, regardless of their backgrounds, hometowns, religions, gender, etc. Global problems such as pandemic diseases, disasters, lack of care and medication, homelessness and displacement call for global responses.This book demonstrates that a moral vision of global health is necessary and it helps to quickly understand the basic ideas of global bioethics.

An examination of ethical challenges that technology presents to the allegedly sacrosanct idea of the human and a proposal for a new ethics of life rooted in the philosophy of alterity. Bioethical dilemmas—including those over genetic screening, compulsory vaccination, and abortion—have been the subject of ongoing debates in the media, among the public, and in professional and academic communities. But the paramount bioethical issue in an age of digital technology and new media, Joanna Zylinska argues, is the transformation of the very notion of life. In this provocative book, Zylinska examines many of the ethical challenges that technology poses to the allegedly sacrosanct idea of the human. In doing so, she goes beyond the traditional understanding of bioethics as a matter for moral philosophy and medicine to propose a new “ethics of life” rooted in the relationship between the human and the nonhuman (both animals and machines) that new technology prompts us to develop. After a detailed discussion of the classical theoretical perspectives on bioethics, Zylinska describes three cases of “bioethics in action,” through which the concepts of “the human,” “animal,” and “life” are being redefined: the reconfiguration of bodily identity by plastic surgery in a TV makeover show; the reduction of the body to two-dimensional genetic code; and the use of biological material in such examples of “bioart” as Eduardo Kac's infamous fluorescent green bunny. Zylinska addresses ethics from the interdisciplinary perspective of media and cultural studies, drawing on the writings of thinkers from Agamben and Foucault to Haraway and Hayles. Taking theoretical inspiration in particular from the philosophy of alterity as developed by Jacques Derrida, Emmanuel Levinas, and Bernard Stiegler, Zylinska makes the case for a new nonsystemic, nonhierarchical bioethics that encompasses the kinship of humans, animals, and machines.

"There is a palpable need for business to explore the issues Dhanda raises. Guiding Icarus offers a flight plan." -from the Foreword by Philip R. Reilly Guiding ICARUS Merging Bioethics with Corporate Interests Rahul K. Dhanda While bioethicists may enjoy the most thorough appreciation of both the promise and perils of new biotechnologies, international corporations are in fact the entities generating these technologies and determining their application. An industry insider versed in the language of bioethics, Rahul Dhanda offers in Guiding Icarus: Merging Bioethics with Corporate Interests a Rosetta stone to these two camps, explaining why each needs the other, why their disparate concerns often cohere, and why an ethical business is likely a successful one. The author develops a dialogue between bioethics and corporate interests by examining case studies of several hot-button issues, including: * Genetically modified foods * DNA data banking * Personalized medicine * Stem cell research In each instance he provides a treatment of the particular science under consideration, a list of the benefits of the technology, a description of the ethical issues involved, an account of past industry response, and recommendations for future action. Given the expansive nature of biotechnology, ramifications in the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries are covered in depth as well. The book also features a Foreword by world-renowned bioethicist and biotechnology CEO Philip R. Reilly as well as a step-by-step discussion of the components of business and bioethical issues. Written for a general audience, Guiding Icarus will be particularly useful to biotechnologists, regulatory affairs managers, and corporate officers of biotechnology firms, as well as bioethicists in the academic community. Dhanda's peerless text provides a unique tool for understanding and addressing the ethical dilemmas confronting society in the 21st century.

Rewriting Nature is a cogent, riveting interdisciplinary exploration of the law, science, and policy of emerging genome-editing technology.