When several decades ago the IRB system was established trying to balance major moral consideration in research with human subjects, the main impetus were severe cases of unethical behaviour and experiences, often protected by state and institutional administration. The first phase of the IRB aimed at protecting subjects from serious hazards, while in later stages the IRB turned to „lesser risk...

This review describes the social and ethical responses to the history of innovations in forensic genetics and their application to criminal investigations. Following an outline of the three recurrent social perspectives that have informed these responses (crime management, due process, and genetic surveillance), it goes on to introduce the repertoire of ethical considerations by describing a se...

While networking technology facilitates the use of online services such as real-time instant messaging and anywhere-anytime multiplayer gaming, societal and ethical issues can influence the desirability of providing these services unmonitored to minors (i.e. users whose parents are legally responsible for them). In many countries and provinces, access to alcohol, tobacco and pornographic produc...

Globalization refers to a multidimensional set of social processes that create, multiply, stretch, and intensify worldwide social interdependencies and exchanges while at the same time fostering in people a growing awareness of deepening connections between the local and the distant. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) focuses on the concept that business has a duty to serve society in genera...

An ethical issue is an identifiable situation and also an opportunity which requires an individual or organization to choose from the actions that must be evaluated as right or wrong, ethical or unethical, etc. Product– related ethical issues arise when marketers fail to disclose the risks associated with a product. In pricing, common ethical issues are price fixing or failure to disclose the f...

Nanobiotechnologies represent a rapidly growing field of interest. Several European conferences during the past year have highlighted the wideranging potential of applying techniques at the molecular and atomic levels to understand and transform biosystems, and of using biological principles and materials to create new devices at the nanoscale. This convergence of disciplines holds great promis...

The capacity for technology to promote certain modes of behavior has long been a topic of interest for social and cultural scholars.2 Software in particular plays an obvious role in influencing creativity and production, as studies on topics ranging from word processing to power point have demonstrated.3 Theorists claim that technology and the media it brokers are "transforming the way we know ...

Oncologists are asked with increasing frequency to counsel their patients with respect to the medical, psychological and social repercussions of genetic testing for cancer susceptibility that may have been prescribed by physicians or carried out through direct-to-consumer tests. This article critically reviews the main ethical and social implications of BRCA testing, focusing on genetic respons...