Project Page: Ethics for the Biotech Industry

This is the home-page for a programme of academic research , directed by Dr. Chris MacDonald at Saint Mary’s University (Halifax, Canada). The focus of this project is the investigation of ethical issues in biotechnology through the lenses of business ethics and professional ethics. 

The goal:

To date, most ethical reflection on biotech issues has come from those trained in bioethics. That’s important work, because much of biotech is aimed at health care applications. But biotech also poses interesting ethical challenges for biotech corporations and professional challenges for biotech researchers. This project aims to focus on those challenges.

Past Events:

• “Resolving Social Conflicts over BioEngineered Foods.” Ryerson University, October 16, 2008
• “From Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing to Pricing the New Biologics: Corporate Ethics in the World of Biotechnology,” Duke University, September 3, 2008
• "Biotech Companies and NGO’s: Ethical Considerations," University of Montreal, July 17, 2008
• Public Panel Discussion: "Health, the Humanities, and the Public Good." (April 14, 2005, Halifax.)
• Public Panel Discussion:
  "Genes and Profits: Business Ethics for the Life Sciences" (May 6, 2004, Halifax)
• "Roundtable on Ethical Challenges for Life Science Corporations" (An invitation-only workshop, bringing
  together academic, government, and industry perspectives) (May 7, Halifax)

Work Published / Presented:

• “The Precautionary Principle and the Ethics of Coroporate Decision-Making”

• "Corporate Decisions about Labeling Genetically Modified Foods," Journal of Business Ethics, 74:4, 2007 [see the abstract here] [outline of the argument here]

• "Corporate Social Responsibility and
  Pharmaceutical Pricing," poster presentation, CSPS 8th Annual
  Symposium on Pharmaceutical Sciences (Chris MacDonald and Trevor Coffrin)

• "Corporate Decisions and the Dual Democratic Deficit of GM Food Labelling," poster presentation,
  GE³LS Symposium, March 2005 (Toronto, ON) (Chris
  MacDonald & Melissa Whellams)

• "Corporate Decisions and the Dual Democratic Deficit of GM Food Labelling," paper presentation, Canadian Society for the Study of Practical Ethics, June 2005 (Chris MacDonald & Melissa Whellams)

• "Corporate Ethics and GM Food Labeling", 6Degrees.ca Newsletter, Jan. 2005 (Melissa Whellams & Chris MacDonald)

• “Bioscience corporations must do better at corporate ethics,” (Guest Editorial) BioScience News & Advocate, April 8, 2004.

• "Understanding The Role of
  Stakeholders in Corporate Biotechnology," poster presentation, GE³LS Symposium 2004 (Vancouver, BC).

• "Business Ethics 101 for the Biotech Industry," Biodrugs, 2004. 18:2. 71-77.

• “Patents and Benefit-Sharing as a Challenge for Corporate Ethics,” in Bartha Maria Knoppers, ed. Populations and Genetics: Legal and Socio-Ethical Perspectives. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2003.

• "Ethics in Biotechnology — An Executive Guide" (Chris
  MacDonald & Rahul K. Dhanda) (126k, PDF format)

• "Corporate Governance and Biotech-Ethics," presented at the Canadian Bioethics Society’s 14th Annual Conference (October 17-20, 2002)
  

• "Ethics and Genetics: Susceptibility Testing in the Workplace" (with B. Williams-Jones, Cambridge University) Journal of Business Ethics. 35:3 (February 2002) 235-241. [abstract & bibliography] [more about this topic]

• "Accountability in the Biotech Sector" (presented to the Canadian Democracy and Corporate Accountability Commission, Halifax, NS, April 17, 2001)

• “Commercialization of Genetic Services: the Role of Genetic Counselors,” Human Reproduction and Genetic Ethics 8:1 (2002) 1-3.

• "Stem Cells: A Pluripotent Challenge," (40 kb PDF file) (as appearing in BioScan 13:4, Fall 2001. BioScan is the newsletter of the Toronto Biotechnology Initiative)

• “Stem Cell Ethics and the Forgotten Corporate Context,” American Journal of Bioethics 2:1 (2002).