Team:Heidelberg/Human Practices/Philosophy/Part1

From 2010.igem.org


The first and important part of the philosophical approach will be the reflection about the wetlab.


Contents

First concept

  • biosafety:
  • biosecurity:
  • meaningfulness (?): Is the project a waste of money, time and knowhow? Best example for such projects can be find [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_Träger_des_Ig-Nobelpreises here].
  • Should it be allowed that students are working on such dangerous and maybe far-reaching projects? Demur of several german newspapers like the [http://www.zeit.de/2010/22/N-Biologie-Studentenwettbewerb ZEIT] or
  • Ethical problems if specific method getting patented

Problem: imprecise, broad and vague; have to create a checklist on my own - none known yet; have to acquaint myself with the methods of the wetlab - very precise knowledge is condition

This approach was dismissed. Too unprecise. Too much work for too less outcome. Canceling of the former wetlab-project.

Second concept

The canceling of the former wetlab-project and deciding for the new project gives the ethical reflexion new possibilities especially because the team wants to work with mice. So there is a wide and grown field of ethical discussion and reflexion about animal experiments. I can use the literature and the highly emotional discussion as basis for the reflexion on the specific wetlab-project.

  1. introduction into animal experiments in the context of the bioethics
  2. outlining the two major positions
    1. freedom of research
      1. elaborating the legal status in Germany (Binder: Rahmenbedingungen) and States - comparison
      2. main arguments
    2. rights of animals
      1. status-quo: experiments, meat-production, etc. - klarmachen wie die gelebte Wirklichkeit(?) ist und sich nicht auf theoretische standpunkte zurückziehen
      2. elaborating the legal status
      3. ethical concepts:
        1. Peter Singer
        2. Hans Jonas
        3. Is there any ethical 'theory' which refers to our every-day behavior? Maybe Descartes!
    3. first conclusion
  3. outlining iGEM-project and wetlab
    1. what is the aim? outlining the main parts
    2. what would be the advantage/benefit for the men?
    3. what will be precise be done with the mice and what will it do to them? do they harm them? will they feel pain? will the experiment probably kill them?
    4. how necessary is the usage of mice for the project? are there alternatives and if it so why they aren't realized?
  4. appreciation
    1. the common definitions and positions will be related to the specific situation in the wetlab


new elaborated version

New Version

--Marcus 16:17, 23 August 2010 (UTC)

Collection of thoughts and quotations

  • abstract over animal experiments in the genetics<ref>Nuffield S. 69ff.</ref>
  • Template:Rquote
  • great article about [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_rights animal rights]; good abstract on the development of the ideas (Bentham, Locke, Kant, etc.)
  • 100 Mill. $ were caused by "eco-terrorist" in USA - believable [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/11/10/60minutes/main1036067_page2.shtml source]?
  • animal liberation seems to be a "hot" topic in the USA; broad debate; many activists and groups; but also many experiments
  • there is a special law against "eco-terrorist" and "animal liberation extremists": [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Enterprise_Terrorism_Act Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act]
  • obviously there are disruptions inside of the animal rights movement - PETA calls themselves just as a animal protection movement
  • special unit by the FBI against "eco-terrorists" and radical animal liberator: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Backfire_(FBI) Operation Blackfire]
  • scheint ein ziemlicher skandal in USA gewesen zu sein: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primate_experiments_at_Cambridge_University Tests an Primaten in Cambridge in 2002]
  • UNABOMBER!
  • german legislation: [http://bundesrecht.juris.de/tierschg/BJNR012770972.html Tierschutzrecht Abschnitt 5]
  • EU legislation:
  • american legislation:
  • [http://www.bmelv.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/Landwirtschaft/Tier/Tierschutz/Tierschutzbericht_2007.pdf letzter Tierschutzbericht der Bundesregierung 2007]
  • the protection of animals/animal rights (Tierschutz) becomes in 2007 a national objective with [http://www.bmelv.de/cln_163/SharedDocs/Standardartikel/Landwirtschaft/Tier/Tierschutz/StaatszielTierschutz.html constitutional status]
  • same helpful links: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_testing_regulations Animal testing regulations] also divided in different nations; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutional_Animal_Care_and_Use_Committee Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee]; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_testing Animal Testing] - broad and seems to be good
  • dolphins are [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/article6973994.ece non-human persons (!)]
  • gute Seite: [http://www.ebra.org/ EBRA]
  • guter Überblick zur dt. Situation: [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tierversuch WIKI]
  • Kommentar zur [http://www.hsus.org/animals_in_research/animals_in_research_news/passage_of_farm_bill_denies_protection_to_birds_mice_and_rats.html Farm Bill]
  • nicht den BEricht zu Tierversuchen vom BMELV vergessen!

Literatur

  • Borchers, Dagmar [Hrsg.]: Der ethisch vertretbare Tierversuch: Kriterien und Grenzen, Paderborn: Mentis 2009.
  • Nuffield Council on Bioethics: [http://www.nuffieldbioethics.org/fileLibrary/pdf/RIA_Report_FINAL-opt.pdf The ethics of research involving animals], London: Latimer Trend (?) 2005.
  • Singer, Peter A. [Hrsg.]: The Cambridge textbook of bioethics, Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ. Pr. 2008.

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