To date over 60 teachers from all over Japan have joined the network. The network has held 11 meetings since the end of 1996, and 15-20 teachers participate each time. At each meeting different teachers talk, from either biology or social studies backgrounds. There are three or four functions in the network. The teachers who teach bioethics and are interested in bioethics can make a connection.
Teachers can exchange information with each other, and exchange views.
Teachers research the roles of bioethics in education in general. And conversely they also research the role of education in developing one of the objectives of bioethics, that of involving all citizens in social policy making, and making mature individuals. I would like to talk about one of the themes discussed in our meeting, on how humanity and science relate to illness. Human beings are a type of animal that makes tools, as do chimpanzees. Human beings like to modify the environment they live in.