Bioethics
Bioethics, the study of the ethical questions arising from biological (especially medical) research and technology. Bioethics is concerned with the use of life-support machines and such medical procedures as in vitro fertilization, gene therapy, genetic screening, and organ transplants. (See Death, subtitle Death and the Law; Fertilization, subtitle Infertility; Genetic Engineering, subtitle Uses; Heredity, subtitle Genetic Screening; Transplant.)
Examples of questions considered in bioethics include the following:
Is it ethical to use genetic engineering to alter the genes of a human fetus?
Is it ethical to transplant an organ from a baboon into a human?
Is it ethical to use in vitro fertilization to make a 60-year-old woman pregnant?
In many countries, laws or guidelines have been established to regulate biological research and technology.