Mepham T B
Centre for Applied Bioethics, University of Nottingham, School of Biosciences, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough LE12 5RD, UK.
Proc Nutr Soc. 2000 Nov;59(4):609-18. doi: 10.1017/s0029665100000860.
Certain developments in the agricultural and food sciences have far-reaching implications for society and the environment, which suggest the need to examine their ethical acceptability as a standard component of technology assessment. Such considerations have led to the emergence of a new academic discipline, food ethics. The present paper describes how ethical theory may be applied to the analysis of the impacts of prospective food biotechnologies to assess potential effects on four 'interest groups', i.e. consumers, producers, treated organisms and the biota (fauna and flora). The principles which structure the framework used, i.e. the ethical matrix, are adapted to the field of agriculture and food from those applied in medical ethics. Use of the ethical matrix is illustrated by applying it to the specific case of bovine somatotrophin, the genetically-engineered protein hormone which is injected into lactating cattle to increase their milk yields. Ethical analysis is seen to depend on a number of critical requirements, i.e. scientific data, non-scientific evidence and predictions, suitably-qualified assessors ('competent moral judges'), the 'world-views' of the assessors and application of the precautionary principle to cope with 'uncertainty'.
农业和食品科学领域的某些发展对社会和环境具有深远影响，这表明有必要将其伦理可接受性作为技术评估的标准组成部分加以审视。这些考量催生了一门新的学科——食品伦理学。本文阐述了如何将伦理理论应用于对未来食品生物技术影响的分析，以评估其对四个“利益群体”，即消费者、生产者、被处理的生物体以及生物群（动物和植物）的潜在影响。构建所用框架（即伦理矩阵）的原则是从医学伦理学应用的原则改编而来，适用于农业和食品领域。通过将伦理矩阵应用于牛生长激素这一具体案例来说明其用法，牛生长激素是一种基因工程蛋白激素，注入泌乳奶牛体内可提高产奶量。伦理分析被认为取决于一些关键要素，即科学数据、非科学证据和预测、具备适当资质的评估者（“称职的道德评判者”）、评估者的“世界观”以及应用预防原则来应对“不确定性”。
