Genomics in Asia. A Clash of Bioethical Interests?
Genomics in Asia focuses on issues dealing with the development and application of molecular biology and bioengineering technologies in Asian societies and cultures. The workshop on which this book is based aimed to gain an insight into bioethical issues with relation to the dynamics of Asian societies, cultures and religions. It was to generate debate on Asian Genomics and create a basis for comparative research into the relationship between the development and application of modern genetics, cultural values, and local interests in Asian societies. The papers first of all reflect a great variety of bioethical views discussed from the angle of different disciplinary and cultural backgrounds, creating a basis on which a further comparison between different local knowledge systems in relation to genomic practices will be feasible.
This book provides insights on research into the social, political and ethical aspects of genomics, and reflects the bioethical experiences of researchers from Japan, China, the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, Pakistan, India and Malaysia. The subjects of discussion vary from genetics in China to religious perspectives on cloning and genetic therapy. Themes include the commercial and medical application of new bioengineering technologies, such as the impact of preventive genetic medicine, genetic counselling, genetically modified organisms [GMOs] and stem-cell research on wealth distribution, cultural traditions, social well-being, and political and legal regulations and institutions. In the study of bioengineering in Asia, various perspectives were brought together at a concrete research level. The authors tried to avoid macro-concepts incorporated by dichotomies of East and West and to acquire new insights into the relationship between local knowledge systems and cultures and interests groups on the one hand and the constellation of various interests of scientific research, governments and MNCs on the other.
Contents
Introduction
1) Genomics in Asia: Cultural Values and Bioethnical Practices (Margaret Sleeboom).
I: RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES.
2) Ethical Issues: An Islamic Perspective (Anwar Nasim).
3) Impact of Modern Genetics: A Sikh Perspective. (Gursatej Gandhi).
4) Hindu Bioethics, the Concept of Dharma and Female Infanticide in India (Santishree Pandit).
5) Human Cloning in a Thai Novel: Wimon Sainimnuan's Amata and Thai Cultural Attitudes Toward Biotechnology (Soraj Hongladarom).
6) Implications of Japanese Religions in the Genomic Age: A Survey on Attitudes towards Life and Death Within Shinto, Buddhist and Christian Groups (Noritoshi Tanida).
II: CULTURAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES.
7) Genome, Artificial Evolution and Global Community (Hyakudai Sakamoto).
8) Biotechnology and Responsibility to Future Generations: A Confucian Perspective (Shui Chuen Lee).
9) Respecting Nature and Using Human Intelligence: Elements of a Confucian Bioethics. (Yu Kam Por).
10) Cross-Cultural Approaches to the Philosophy of Life in the Contemporary World: From Bioethics to Life Studies (Masahiro Morioka).
11) A Philoophical Meditation on Genomics (Min Jiayin).
III: GENOMICS AND PRACTICES IN ASIA.
12) Bioethics and Medical Genetics in Japan (Norio Fujiki).
13) Attitudes Towards Biotechnology and Bioethics in the Philippines: A Pilot Study (Mary Ann Chen Ng and Darryl Macer).
14) Chinese ‘Eugenics': Definition, Practice and Cultural Values (Yanguang Wang.
15) Genomics, Health and Society: A View from the South (Chan Chee Khoon). List of Contributors.