AZA1264 - Ethics and biotechnology

The unit investigates how the law and public policy should respond to advances in medicine and biotechnology. The unit adopts a global perspective but looks at issues through a South African and African lens. Issues that are and covered includes: whether employers and insurance companies should be permitted to discriminate among applicants on the basis of their genetic profile; whether the law should protect individuals' genetic privacy or whether we have a duty to share our genetic knowledge; whether the law should act paternalistically to prevent people from harming themselves; whether people who are partly responsible for their own bad health should receive lower priority of care in hospitals, or whether advances in knowledge in the biological bases for behaviour give us reason to doubt individual responsibility. These issues are linked to the situation regarding bio-technology in South Africa and Africa in general, with particular reference to some of the ethical dilemmas encountered within this context.