Abstract
In this entry, the field of bioengineering will be discussed, including the large field of biomedical engineering and the nonmedical fields of biosystems and bioprocess engineering and biomimetics. The focus is on ethical issues in bioengineering. Associated ethical issues include clinical-related issues concerning manipulation of the human genome, the development of prosthetic organs and limbs, engineering of the human brain and nervous system, and human enhancement. In the nonmedical fields, there are ethical issues concerning agriculture, food production, environmental risks, and dual use.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Beynus, J. (1997). Biomimicry: Innovation inspired by nature. New York: William Morrow.
Brey, P. (2014). Prosthetics. In J. B. Holbrook & C. Mitcham (Eds.), Ethics, science, technology, and engineering: A global resource. Detroit: MacMillan Reference.
Crafa, D, & Nagel S. (2015). Traces of culture: the feedback loop between brain, behavior, and disorder. Transcultural Psychiatry.
De Vries, R., Oerlemans, A., Trommelmans, L., Dierickx, K., & Gordijn, B. (2008). Ethical aspects of tissue engineering: A review. Tissue Engineering Part B, 14(4), 367–375.
Illes, J., Kirschen, M. P., Karetsky, K., Kelly, M., Saha, A., Desmond, J. E., Raffin, T. A., Glover, G. H., & Atlas, S. W. (2004). Discovery and disclosure of incidental findings in neuroimaging research. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 20(5), 743–747.
LeDuc, P., Agaba, M., Cheng, C.-M., Gracio, J., Guzman, A., & Middelberg, A. (2014). Beyond disease, how biomedical engineering can improve global health. Science Translational Medicine, 6, 266fs48.
Nagel, S. K. (2010). Ethics and the neurosciences. Ethical and social consequences of neuroscientific progress. Paderborn: Mentis.
Nagel, S. K. (2014). Enhancement for well-being is still ethically challenging, Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience, 8 (72): doi:10.3389/fnsys.2014.00072.
Parens, E. (Ed.). (1998). Enhancing human traits: Ethical and social implications. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Thompson, P. (2012). The agricultural ethics of biofuels: The food vs. fuel debate. Agriculture, 2, 339–358.
Further Readings
Fielder, J. (2007). Biomedical engineering ethics. Morgan & Claypool, San Rafael, CA, USA.
Thompson, S. J. (2014) (ed.). Global issues and ethical considerations in human enhancement technologies. IGI Global, Hershey, PA, USA.
Varello, D. (2007). Biomedical ethics for engineers: Ethics and decision making in biomedical and biosystem engineering. Academic, Waltham, MA, USA.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this entry
Cite this entry
Brey, P., Nagel, S. (2015). Bioengineering. In: ten Have, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Bioethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05544-2_43-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05544-2_43-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-05544-2
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities