BIOETHICS

The Bioethics Imperative XXXVI
The close of TBI

“Mokita”: The truth we all know and agree not to talk about. Papua New Guinea

Dina Mandoli

After some consideration, I have decided to close “The Bioethics Imperative.” After seven years of bimonthly columns, I feel that I have covered the major topics that I set out to do, and more! In this column you, the readers, and I have explored topics as diverse as authorship, sexual harassment, Federal Effort Certification, and conflict of interest. A full list of the topics covered and links to the columns themselves can be found at http://www.aspb.org/newsletter/bioethics.cfm. ASPB formulated its own code of ethics to address the Society’s expectations for scientific conduct in publishing and our procedures for handling allegations of misconduct for authors, editors and reviewers, and the publisher and staff while TBI has been running (http://aspb.org/publications/ethics.cfm).

Ethics, defined as “the study of morality’s effect on conduct” and “code of morality”(1), is really a branch of philosophy that dates back at least to the Greeks. The word comes via Latin ethica from the Ancient Greek ńθικń[φιλοσοφíα] “moral philosophy,” from the adjective ńθος [éthos] “custom, habit” (2). Wikipedia (2) has both theoretical and applied listings (bioethics is under “Applied”). Core issues listed are justice, value, right, duty, virtue, equality, freedom, trust, free will, consent, and moral responsibility. Key thinkers range from Confucius and Socrates, to Hume and Kierkegaard, to whom I assume are the more modern thinkers, Nozick and Rawls.

And in the news, daily ethics cases abound. For example, both vice presidential candidates have been scrutinized: Governor Sarah Palin for the firing of a top law enforcement official in her administration (3) and Senator Joe Biden, whose son was a partner at a Washington law firm that has lobbied the senator’s office (4). As of this writing, a quick Google search for “ethics cases” comes up with 785,000 listings. There are 2,390,000 hits for “ethics institutes” in areas ranging from business and medicine to public affairs. Clearly, one can spend a lifetime studying and debating ethics.

It has been said that as soon as there are at least two people in a room, there’s politics. I would add that as soon as there are two people in a room, there’s ethics. The genesis of ethical ground—both high and low—is the dynamics between those people and the events that they experience. Indeed, the ethics issues often emerge because no two people experience the same situation in the same way; they bring to it their “now” in the form of their own five senses, their past, their expertise, their desires, and their emotions. In the meeting of just two people then, there are complex landscapes on which ethical issues can roam and multiply. Add a friend or colleague and things can really get going! Set the stage in a public forum like a classroom and … well, you see what I mean.

Lasting messages of this column are really just twofold: Be aware of your resources, and be proactive. The primary resources in place for us all are local, including colleagues, departmental chairs, ombudsmen, and deans. In this mix, one might include publications like newspapers and departmental newsletters that can often set a story in a context that is meaningful to the wider audience. Don’t scoff! There is more than one way to squelch the rumor mill. Secondary resources are those of the state including government, legal professionals, and professional societies such as ASPB. And then there are federal resources, to which we all might have to turn when dealing with ethics in the scientific community, the land of reviewing grants and manuscripts. On this broader scale, NSF, DOE, NASA, NIH, NOAA, SeaGrant, and other federal agencies that have ethics committees, ombudsmen, and offices of the inspector general serve us all.

For me, being proactive now means examining your own position and the position of others, such as colleagues or students, around you. Over the years that I have been writing this column, I have seen or heard of many, many cases in which ethical problems have arisen that could easily have been avoided if the parties involved had been proactive in clarifying, questioning, and carefully considering all the possible angles of a situation at the onset. The watchwords are leave no stone unturned and act positively, quietly, and openly at the first hint of a sticky situation.

Personally, I have learned a lot from my work on this column. I have interacted with great people during these seven years as “a columnist.” Thanks are due to many, including, in no particular order,

• my mentors who showed me ethics, both good and bad, by their actions and example
• ASPB Executive Committees who have made an ongoing commitment to ethics in our Society
• the ASPB membership for critically reading TBI and contributing ideas for these columns
• teachers who have used and taught with TBI over the years
• the NSF Office of the Inspector General, especially Jim Kroll
• students in my lab and in the labs of others who have willingly acted as guinea pigs during these past seven years
• administration, staff, and faculty at the University of Washington who have contributed to the columns with their time and their expertise
• and, of course, Nancy Winchester and Diane McCauley, the dedicated ASPB staff who have helped TBI be published over the years. They have been most professional and courteous in all my dealings with them.

So adieu! May you be ethical and lucky in all your professional dealings.

Dina Mandoli
dina.mandoli@gmail.com

References

1. (2008). Microsoft Word Dictionary.
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics
3. Luo, M. (August 30, 2008). Investigators are looking at governor about firing. New York Times, p. A1.; Kovaleski, S. F. (October 11, 2008). Alaska Inquiry Concludes Palin Abused Powers. Efforts to Oust Trooper Violated Ethics Law, Investigator Finds. New York Times, p. A1.
4. Schwartz, E. (August 24, 2008). My son, the lobbyist: Biden’s son a well-paid DC insider, firm lobbies Senator Biden although son does not. http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5640118&page=1