Bioethics and the Life Sciences: Challenges in a Globalized World

This proposed new book seeks to provide perspective and insights on previously unaddressed challenges in bioethics, as well as high priority and contentious emerging problems that face today’s life science practitioners.  Rather than only have bioethicists address these topics, this volume will invite authors who are leaders in their respective basic and applied scientific fields to provide commentary, solely or in conjunction with bioethicists. Beginning with a foundation in bioethics, the authors and chapters will span a wide range of fields in which controversies have erupted or can be expected, ranging from medical science, biotechnology, for-profit science, science and the law, agricultural science, environmental protection, biosecurity, and national and global security.  With globalized science in a highly interconnected world, setting ethical standards for the conduct and diverse use of cutting edge science is looming even more important for current and future generations. 

As the current generation of scientists matures and trains its successors, bioethics must be part of both training and the governance of science for the public good.  The speed at which the life sciences are changing demands a prospective and thoughtful consideration of bioethics, not retrospectively during a crisis.  This book is intended to be a new resource for life scientists of all ages and stations, as well as for policy makers, scholars and commentators at the interfaces of science, policy, and the law.  Its other major targeted use is as a text for advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows for courses or modules focused on complex contemporaneous and emerging challenges in bioethics.

This volume will identify and explore both current and emerging challenges in bioethics, which are being driven by complex reasons, perspectives, motivations and considerations. It will also address the problems and recognized realities of contemporary science as well as at the interface of science with other disciplines. Topics will be addressed from both a national and global perspective. This book will also develop the effects and outcomes of bioethics in the context of broad societal impacts. The book will begin with a foundation in bioethics, move through a series of provocative, contemporaneous topics and end with bringing bioethics to life for young scientists and what the “next generation” might have to contend with. 

Unlike other texts in bioethics, which primarily have bioethicists writing chapters, this volume will use both bioethicists and leaders in their respective scientific or legal field to address the chapter topics and challenges. The book is intended to become a popular textbook or reference for courses or modules dealing with bioethics at both upper undergraduate and graduate levels.  Furthermore, this book will appeal to both practicing scientists and policy makers who need a broad or specialized knowledge of contemporary bioethical issues.