Ethical Considerations of the Advancement of Science

 With ever-evolving technology allowing everyone from scientists to rich interested parties to study, adapt, and change aspects of our humanness, the world of ethics has its work cut out for them. To keep everyone involved safe and allow sufficient progress to be made, the mixed field of ethics and learning through the scientific process must grow together, hence the creation of bioethics. This practice can both take place for current ethical considerations, and past experiments. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH COLLABORATION: THE BUCHAREST EARLY INTERVENTION PROJECT, a paper written by C.H. Zeanah et al., takes a look at a controversial, albeit enlightening project done in collaboration with American investigators and the Romanian government. The  Bucharest Early Intervention Project focused on the development of children in Romanian institutions contrasted with the intervention of being taken to foster homes that address the implicit socio-economic issues that ravage the institutions of Romania. The key question was, how does infant trauma become woven into the fabric of an individual's neurological development and present as behavior. While the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP) did strictly adhere to the current ethical guidelines, the paper does leave some feeling a slight sense of disgust. The author of the ethical consideration even stated as much. The issue then lies with the guidelines, perhaps they are not strict enough, or take into account the wrong perspective. This will not be the last time a queasiness will follow a study, this is the nature of science. It is supposed to make people uncomfortable, but it is a fine line of wonder and malcontent. And with this ever globalizing world, more care must be taken to avoid harming underserved communities and unfairly privileging the wealthy and better off. The Ethical Implications of Neuroscience, an article written in the World Economic Forum states as much. It goes on to contemplate the possible uses and abuses of new technologies such as mood-altering drugs and forms of deep brain stimulation to change a person. While there is an argument to be made that, if we have the technologies to help in the betterment of a global society, to use such technologies. For example, neuroscientists working in Leiden University in the Netherlands found that nodal excitability-enhancing tDCS of the mPFC reduced prejudice. But rewiring a brian can be skewed into something of a dystopian universe. 

Works Cited

“Bioethics.” ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, www.sciencedaily.com/terms/bioethics.htm.

Written by
Nathan Emmerich, Visting Research Fellow. “The Ethical Implications of Neuroscience.” World Economic Forum, www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/05/the-ethical-implications-of-neuroscience/.

Zeanah, Charles H., et al. “Ethical Considerations in International Research Collaboration: The Bucharest Early Intervention Project.” Infant Mental Health Journal, vol. 27, no. 6, 2006, pp. 559–576., doi:10.1002/imhj.20107.