Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table
2.1
Ranking
by
global
health
experts
of
top
ten
biotechnologies
needed
to
improve
health
in
developing
countries
Final ranking
Biotechnology
1
Modified molecular technologies for affordable, simple diagnosis of infectious diseases
2
Recombinant technologies to develop vaccines against infectious diseases
3
Technologies for more efficient drug and vaccine delivery systems
4
Technologies for environmental improvement (sanitation, clean water, and bioremediation)
5
Sequencing pathogen genomes to understand their biology and to identify new antimicrobials
6
Female-controlled protection against sexually transmitted diseases, both with and without con-
traceptive effect
7
Bioinformatics to identify drug targets and to examine pathogen-host interactions
8
Genetically modified crops with increased nutrients to counter specific deficiencies
9
Recombinant technology to make therapeutic products (e.g., insulin, interferons) more affordable
10
Combinatorial chemistry for drug discovery
Source: Data from survey conducted in: A.S. Daar, H. Thorsteinsdottir, D.K. Martin, A.C. Smith, S. Nast, and
P.A. Singer, 2002, Top Ten Biotechnologies for Improving Health in Developing Countries,
Nature
Genetics
, 32,
pp. 229-32.
information. Bioengineering is the “application of the physical sciences and engineering to the study of
the functioning of the human body and to the treatment and correction of medical conditions.”
6
This
closely tracks with the definition of “biomedical engineering.”
Thus, engineers as agents of technological progress are at a pivotal position. Technology will continue
to play an exponentially increasingly important role in the future. The concomitant societal challenges
require that every engineer fully understands the implications and possible drawbacks of these techno-
logical breakthroughs. Key among them will be biotechnical advances at smaller scales, well below the
cell and approaching the molecular level. Technological processes at these scales require that engineers
improve their grasp of the potential ethical implications. The essence of life processes is at stake.
MAJOR
BIOETHICAL
AREAS
Engineering practice and research is deeply committed to and involved in the advancing technologies
that will benefit humankind. However, this commitment and involvement calls for deliberate and
serious considerations of actual and potential ethical issues. The President's Council on Bioethics
7
has
summarized the dichotomy between the promise and the ethical challenges:
For roughly half a century, and at an ever-accelerating pace, biomedical science has been gaining wondrous
new knowledge of the workings of living beings, from small to great. Increasingly, it is providing precise and
sophisticated knowledge of the workings also of the human body and mind. Such knowledge of how things
work often leads to new technological powers to control or alter these workings, powers generally sought
in order to treat human disease and relieve suffering. But, once available, powers sought for one purpose
