Global Bioethics and International Governance of Biotechnology

Bioethics The term “bioethics” is a relatively new term in the field of ethics, when compared to medical ethics and the philosophy of science. The word “bioethics” was coined in 1970 by Potter, where he proposed bioethics as a new discipline calling it as “the science of survival,” which “would attempt to generate wisdom, the knowledge of how to use knowledge for social good from a realistic knowledge of man’s biological nature and of the biological world.” A generalized and simple definition was proposed by Macer in 1998, calling bioethics as “love of life” involving analysis of the benefits and risks arising out of the moral choices affecting living organisms for the good of individuals, the environment and society. 3