Science and Ethics

March 2, 2007

Michael Cook, editor of MercatorNet.com, has written an excellent column about the ethical framework many scientists are using to evaluate cloning (hint, primitive). Interestingly, scientist Nancy Jones has just published a journal article calling for the development of a code of ethics for science, similar to the Hippocratic Oath in medicine.

To “reinvigorate” the ethical basis of science, Jones states in her article, “appeals to the ideology of science and blind trust will no longer suffice.” Scientific organizations must “not only hold a collective norm but effectively enforce it.” She calls for scientific societies to develop codes and “design systems to enforce” them. Explicit discourse on these principles and virtues must be “part of the heart-and-soul practices of both laboratories and scientific communities.”