"When some scientists hear the word "bioethics," they break out in intellectual hives."

PLoS Biol. 2017 Mar 16;15(3):e2001934. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2001934. eCollection 2017.

Genome editing: Bioethics shows the way.

Neuhaus CP1, Caplan AL1.

Author information

1

Division of Medical Ethics, NYU School of Medicine, New York, New York, United States of America.

Abstract

When some scientists hear the word "bioethics," they break out in intellectual hives. They shouldn't. Good bioethics is about enabling science to move forward. Bioethics pushes scientists to acknowledge that they operate not within a vacuum but within a society in which diverse perspectives and values must be engaged. Bioethicists give voice to those divergent perspectives and provide a framework to facilitate informed and inclusive discussions that spur progress, rather than stall it. The field is needed to advance cutting-edge biomedical research in domains in which the benefits to be had are enormous, such as genome editing, but ethical concerns persist.