Current ethical issues in animal biotechnology

The present paper reviews the current status of opinion and debate regarding ethical issues in three broad categories of relevance to animal biotechnology. The first is scientific integrity, where the focus has been on scientific fraud and the integrity of the research process. The second concerns possible harms or risks to parties affected either directly by research ( including animals themselves) or through the eventual commercialisation or development of products from animal biotechnology. The final category concerns a responsibility to serve as a guardian of the public interest with respect to application and development of technologies derived from new genetic sciences. It is plausible to see the scientific community as a whole having such a fiduciary obligation to the broader public in virtue of the technical complexity of the issues and owing to the public funding and institutional support for scientific research. The overall conclusion is that in the latter two categories especially, there is an urgent need for new participation in deliberative consideration of ethical issues by working scientists.