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International Congress on Bioethics 2005 to be held between March 26 and 28 |
A draft universal declaration of bioethics will be discussed in Tehran, Iran during the International Congress on Bioethics 2005 to be held between March 26 and 28.
The draft, prepared by UNESCO’s Division of Ethics of Science and Technology, Social and Human Sciences Sector, focuses on ethics, molecular biology and intellectual property rights; ethics, stem cell research and tissue transplantation; modern gene technology and ethics (including cloning); and ethics education.
In response to a question from IslamOnline.net about the possibility of arriving at a universal consensus on bioethics, Dr. Farahat Moazam, Professor and Chairperson of the Center of Biomedical Ethics and Culture in Pakistan said, “there are broad principles which everybody can universally agree upon. However, when it comes to actual application, other factors come in such as, indigenous values, religious values and social economic realities”.
Dr. Moazam further explained that “contemporary bioethics is secular and philosophical. It derives the understanding of right and wrong from human reason only. In reality, however, a majority of people of the world use reason but also turn to religious values to help them decide what is moral and ethical.”
Dr. Moazam’s work has been concerned with bridging the gap between the West and the East through bioethics. “What is important for us Muslims is to find a balance between the two [contemporary bioethics and religion] to help us guide ourselves ethically. It is important for this part of the world [the East] to make more contribution in the debate and discussion in contemporary bioethics. This will be a benefit to people in the West and people in the East. We have to build bridges between the East and the West and we can do that in bioethics. We can learn from the West but we can also teach them. With knowledge and science things only come from the West to the East. In the East we have a lot to contribute.”
Speakers at the conference will be from Canada, Italy, Morocco, India, France, Spain, Sweden, Holland, Hungary, Pakistan, the Philippines, Australia, Germany, Russia, America and Iran.
The congress is organized by UNESCO, the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology of Iran, National Research Center of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Deputy for Research and Technology, Ministry of Health, Treatment and Medical Education and the Ethics Research Center and Medical History in Tehran's Medical Sciences University.
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