Dear @Costas, I find that some Principles of Bioethics are good reading for the issue You have raised.

"Basic Principles in Bioethics and Biolaw" is an article gives a clarification of the foundation and significance of the basic principles: Autonomy, dignity, integrity and vulnerability (the third link).

https://depts.washington.edu/bioethx/tools/princpl.html

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://archive.journalchirohumanities.com/Vol%252014/JChiroprHumanit2007v14_34-40.pdf

https://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Bioe/BioeRend.htm

There are many issues and problems brought by the advances of biotechnology. Should we start business with DNA? Some they have a cue: "Do not touch genes!" Should we develop some rules about using genes? There are a lot of similar problems for discussion.

Hanno Krieger, suggested that Bioethics should be a question in RG. By posing it I completely agree with him!

No answer yet, but I would like to add an additional field to Costas question, the industrial breeding of cattle and poultry as animals for food.

I just collected some general references concerning bioethics:

[Bonnie_Steinbock]_The_Oxford_Handbook_Of_Bioethics

[George_Khushf]_Handbook_of_Bioethics

[James_B.,_Jr._Tubbs]_A_Handbook_of_Bioethics_Terms_Georgetown University Press

[Howard_Brody]_The_Future_of_Bioethics_Oxford_2009

[Stephen_Garrard_Post]_Encyclopedia_of_bioethics

[Harold_W._Baillie,etr_al]_Is Human Nature Obsolete?

[Dariusch,_Atighetchi]_Islamic_Bioethics

Find the exact reference in Google.

Dear @Costas, I find that some Principles of Bioethics are good reading for the issue You have raised.

"Basic Principles in Bioethics and Biolaw" is an article gives a clarification of the foundation and significance of the basic principles: Autonomy, dignity, integrity and vulnerability (the third link).

https://depts.washington.edu/bioethx/tools/princpl.html

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://archive.journalchirohumanities.com/Vol%252014/JChiroprHumanit2007v14_34-40.pdf

https://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Bioe/BioeRend.htm

I think bioethics should be studied.

We share this planet with other animals. As the most intelligent animals on earth, it is our duty to look after other animals and given them a space.

On the other hand, we should guard against extremism. Some anaminal activiists terrorise people working in animal test laboratories. Without animal tests, many crucial medicines could not have been invented and produced. However, animal tests should be regulated well and minimised. Suffering should also be minimised.

Dear All,

I would like you to distinguish bioethical codes and the practice and attitudes of bioethics. Look at the behaviour of some physicians and biotechnologists and also the mainstream attitudes at society or world level.

Advances in the life sciences are giving humans new capacities. New medicines, biomedical procedures, and ways of altering plants and animals are bringing benefits to millions of people. However, these same innovations also have the potential to bring harms or to raise other kinds of ethical questions about their appropriate use. In a democratic society one must offer each other reasons that show why one way of dealing with a problem is better than another. Ethics is about offering convincing reasons to support a decision. Bioethics that explores ethical questions related to the life sciences help people make decisions about their behaviour and about policy questions that governments, organizations, and communities must face when they consider how best to use new biomedical knowledge and innovations. While, biological sciences, biotechnology, biochemistry, medicals sciences are striving hard to solve many issue related to food, health, environment, etc. of bioethics deserve greater significance and attention but at the same time it shouldn't obstruct the progressive research

Dear Kamal Eddin Bani-Hani,

I believe that the mandatory course named "Bioethics" must be included in the curricula of all medical colleges and universities (all countries). How is it done at the Hashemite university.

Dear P.F. Zabrodskii,

I am sure medicinal ethics are taught at each medical university. My wife is neurologist, she studied medicinal ethics at the Semmelweis Medical University (Budapest) about 30 years ago.

Dear András Bozsik, yes, I agree with you, medicinal ethics studies in different disciplines, but not everywhere has a special  course.

In Russia, the foundations of medical ethics in medical universities and studied before and after 1917.

In 2001 I taught in Portuguese a course in bioethics at the Seminário Redemptoris Mater, a Catholic theological seminary in Brasília, Brazil.  As the basis of the course I used the fundamental text "Fundamentos de Bioética" (1989) by Diego Gracia Guillén. Gracia bases his bioethics on the ethics of his metaphysics teacher the Catholic realist Xavier Zubiri. So I supplemented "Fundamentos" with ethical readings in the philosophy of Zubiri.  Gracia´s bioethics has a well-delineated method which can be applied to any problem in bioethics. As a course requirement, I asked each student to choose the particular problem in bioethics which interested him the most and to apply Gracia´s rigorous method to its solution.  There were 30 students enrolled in diverse intellectual backgrounds from all over the subcontinent of Brazil.  The final result was a wide variety of bioethical analyses in problems from abortion to genetic issues to doctor-patient relations to animal ethics. For Catholic seminarians and for students in all health professions , a course in bioethics is not only timely but necessary.

In my opinion bioethics is very important subject to be inserted in the medical curriculum.  Beside all the previous medical, industrial and business issues mentioned,  it is relevant to the sport medicine. We can see many examples of bioethics in practice.  For instance, using hormonal boost and doping procedure to increase performance or keeping athletes in the game despite the fact that medically is in able to sustain pain. Yes indeed we request such issue to be stupid and applied. 

Bioethics is interdisciplinary and involves philosophy, philosophy of science, medicine, biology, law, sociology and biopolitics, in different moral visions atheist, agnostic, spiritual, and religious. Those who are so concerned with bioethics specialists in various disciplines and are called "bioethicists", or more commonly "bioethics". Many authors have array of religious and documented the historical and theoretical contribution to the birth and development of bioethics. Experts and scholars of Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam and Taoism in fact have grappled with this discipline since its inception, providing, in many cases, the contributions of relevance. To the interpretations of religious origin, it may be added the secular bioethics. When one is in the game tough choices, such as those of bioethics, the problem for the layman is not to impose a vision of 'top', but to ensure that individuals can decide on their own account by weighting the values sometimes conflicting with each other that those choices involve avoid jeopardizing their beliefs and their values. A good question for the participants of the discussion is: are you in favor of a religious or secular bioethics? My thought is that one must start from this point.

Dear Ierardi,

You start from the circumstances in which you are teaching (if asked to teach bioethics) and from those in which you are researching (if determined to research it).  If you happen to be teaching in a religious seminary, as I was, the question of a religious bioethics is settled a priori.  On the other hand, starting from the multitude of possible bioethical viewpoints and discussing the choices is really meta-bioethics. Not too many of us have the luxury of such considerations, but must plunge into the substance of a bioethics itself.  So while I deeply appreciate the rigor of your theoretical position, I would find myself hard-pressed to follow it in the usual teaching situation.

Dear Ierardi,

"A good question for the participants of the discussion is: are you in favor of a religious or secular bioethics?" 

Several religious tenets of bioethics will not allow to spend many scientific studies in the field of physiology, toxicology, pathophysiology, pharmacology, etc.

Ethics connects mainly to behavior, if a behavior is not observed, you can't issue an opinión about its righteousness, or even its effects, the Chruch policy was: 'De interniis, necque Eclessia', meaning no one can make a judgement about reasons, motivations, and other types of menatl processes not explicitly shown outside, anything you can  say is reckless, injurious, misjudgemnt.

Empathy, sinthony, or Theory of Mind, a mental 'mirror' image about the feelings and intnetions of someone that is front of you, is aceptable only in that it's an automatic mechanism, not requariing volition, same as with your open, you watch things, but empathy has mainly a defensive, preemtive evolutional foundation, and, probably, the only aceptable attitude in front of an alarm signal is running away, 'preventive attack' is always a criminal offense

"The challenge is for bioethicists to position themselves to be on panels, boards and other decision-making bodies where public policy positions will be established—where the exploding changes in health care that are now underway will be addressed." — Arthur Leonard Caplan

Cloning and stem cell research can provide treatment for serious illnesses in the future, but is it to tampering with life? Is the potential benefit so significant that we must allow that research are done to acquire new knowledge? Is stem cell research gradation of human dignity? Can sufficient knowledge lead to appropriate social and political decision making? An open debate is vital!

Dear András Bozsik,

in the USSR in medical universities such discipline was not - teach social sciences - history of the CPSU, political economy of socialism and scientific communism, of medicinal ethics students have always said in the study of medicine, surgery, etc . In Russia, at the  Medical University of Saratov at the end of the 90s there was a course at the department of social Sciences "Bioethics". Perhaps somewhere there is a discipline of "Bioethics" at medical universities in Russia, I do not know. But on "Bioethics" (medicinal ethics) say the teaching of all clinical medical disciplines.

The Center for Practical Bioethics is a nonprofit, free-standing and independent organization nationally recognized for its work in practical bioethics. For more than 30 years, the Center has helped patients and their families, healthcare professionals, policymakers and corporate leaders grapple with difficult issues in healthcare and research involving patients. The Center does not wait to be called upon. Our vision and mission require us to be proactive — to call attention to ethical issues and to develop programs, policies and publications that address them. Through this unique approach, the Center puts “practical bioethics” into action. That’s why our motto is “Real Life. Real Issues. Real Time.”

It is very resourceful and educative web page. Fine case studies are given.

http://www.practicalbioethics.org/

Scientists have developed hornless cows by using Genetic Editing method. Without horns, the cows can be less danger to the handlers and easier to pack into trucks for transporting. [http://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/scientists-develop-a-hornless-cow-through-gene-editing/]. Before that, de-horn was done through physical methods, and are painful for the cattle [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kaby3dx5aCg].

Some people think this (genetic manipulation) is animal brutality, some think that this is science advance. What do you think?

@ Yuan-Yeu Yau: It is both - science advance and animal brutality. The human has become more brutal with horns and teeth of S&T.

As there is a danger of species loss after human caring is off. A large number of plants have lost their adaptability to grow in wild. Even human is not able to live wild due to loss of some traits e.g. human digestion has become more dependent on cooked food.

 Exciting replies interesting, I agree with most of the answers and explanations above.

Bioethics is about ethical concerns in health care, health policy, and health science. Various professional groups and regulatory groups, have emphasized the importance of ethical principles through their mission statements and operating procedures. As such, it is fundamental to assess the legitimate and moral angles included in the patent rights, pharmacological and clinical trials, privacy of business data, protection of exploration subjects, etc.

Bioethics - is a complex phenomenon, which takes place in modern culture. It emerged in the US in the 60s-70s of the last century. The term "bioethics" was proposed by an American oncologist Potter in 1970. It was he who called for doctors and biologists pool their efforts to ensure decent conditions of life. According to Potter, bioethics - is not just the science of survival. This is a new wisdom that combined the knowledge of the biological industry and existing human values.

***

For the first time used the term Bioethics Fritz Jahr (Fritz Jahra) in 1927. In 1969 he mentioned the American biochemist and oncologist V.R. Potter to refer to ethical issues related to the potential danger to the survival of mankind in the modern world. The first mention of the term in the medical journal belongs to 1971.

The Encyclopedia of Bioethics (.. T 1, with XXI) Bioethics is defined as "the systematic study of the moral parameters - including moral judgments, decisions, behavior, orientation, etc. -.. Achievements of the biological and medical sciences."

Later biomedical ethics is formed as an academic discipline in medical schools. It addressed issues of bioethics and thinkers are turning in different directions. For example, a well-known specialist in the history of Japanese Buddhism, Hajime Nakamura (1912-1999) in his works repeatedly touched on bioethics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioethics

Bioethics is a regulatory concept in biomedical sciences and engineering which recognizes the moral aspects related to applications and experiments on human, social, environmental, and other entities of global concern.

A nice book that I recommend on bioethics is:

Veatch RM.  The Basics of Bioethics. Second Edition.  Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003.

European School of Oncology www.e-eso.net held on Thursday 16 February 2017, 18:15 CET, a good lecture about:

'Diversities in oncology: the ethical issues', by Giovanni Boniolo; Universitá degli Studi, Milano, Italy.

Sorry for not warning in advance, these lectures are available for review as recorded sessions some days after original presentation. 

No fees, no membership required, just registration.

Hope it's useful, regards, + Salut