Modern biotechnology: Applications, status, ethical issues and perspectives of researchers and industries on the key ethical principles

Abstract

The development of modern biotechnology in Malaysia has given rise to many controversies. Currently, the National Biosafety Board (NBB) has approved 29 types of genetically engineered products for the Malaysian market. The ethical issues of modern biotechnology and its products include their long-term impact, effects on human health, environment and socio-economy and the issue of ‘playing God’. Malaysia should be in tandem with the western countries in introducing ethical guideline for modern biotechnology. Ethics guideline needs suitable guiding principles. The objectives of this article are to discuss the applications, status and ethical issues in modern biotechnology and to analyze the perspectives of researchers and industries in Malaysia toward the key secular ethical principles: autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficent and justice. The study was conducted by the Focus Group Discussion (FGD) method using a semi structured instrument. The discussion took about 3 hours and was recorded. The recorded discussions were verbatim transcribed prior to analysis. The research findings showed that the panelists strongly agreed on the importance and suitablility of the four ethical principles to be adopted as the guiding principles for a Malaysian guideline on the ethics of modern biotechnology. The penalists suggested on the reorganization of the four ethical principles into three, with some improvements in the terminologies, resulting in the principles of autonomy and public interest; beneficence and non-maleficent; and justice and non-discrimination. Additionally, the descriptions/definitions of the principles have been improved by the panelists.