Visit the reference links What is Bioethics? Bioethics refers to ethical, social and legal issues raised in medicine and biological researches. Bioethics is concerned with fair and equal consideration for human rights, animal rights, and the environment. Bioethics is the combination of biological knowledge and human values. Principles of bioethics provide a general framework for ethical analysis while using human object resource: 1) Individual autonomy (the ability of participants to make decisions for themselves) 2) Beneficence (the obligation to “do good” for the participants); 3) Nonmaleficence (the obligation to avoid causing harm to the participants) 4) Justice (the value of distributing benefits and burdens fairly). Background The term „bioethics‟ was first introduced by Van Rensselaer Potter in 1971. The great demand for medical ethics was understood in reaction to some negative events, such as the research experiments on human subjects committed by the Nazis. Medical ethics (ethical issues in health care) Research ethics (ethical issues while conducting research) Environmental ethics (ethical issues regarding the relationship between human activities and the environment) Public health ethics (ethical issues in public health) Bioethics When do I need animal ethics approval? Performing the scientific procedures including killing, handling, affecting the habitat of, or otherwise interacting with an animal always requires animal ethics approval. Even observational studies may require animal ethics approval. In determining whether approval is required, consider whether any aspect of the life or death of the animal would be affected by the scientific activity. The Declaration of Helsinki (DoH) was first adopted at the 1964 WMA General Assembly in Helsinki. Its main focus was the responsibilities of researchers for the protection of research subjects. At present, National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have ethics rules for funded researchers. Human cloning Body modification Gene Therapy Institutional Review Board Many institutions (e.g. BSMMU, BAU, IUB) of Bangladesh have Institutional Review Board (IRB). IRB is a committee that approve, monitor and review all types of research that include human and animal. National Research Ethics Committee (NREC) and Bangladesh Bioethics Society (BBS) are governmental and non governmental IRBs of Bangladesh respectively. Conclusion Researchers must be aware of ethical issues if they use living organism in research works. Soaibur Rahman, Rajabul Islam Kamol, Debajit Ghosh, Reduan Raihan, Ashraful Mia, Tanbir Ahammed Department of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, East West University References https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/index.cfm https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis https://www.iep.utm.edu/bioethic/#SH2a https://www.who.int/ethics/Ethics_basic_concepts_ENG.pdf https://staff.unimelb.edu.au/research/ethics-integrity/animal-ethics/FAQs/when- do-i-need-animal-ethics-approval Are you doing research on living organism? You must know Bioethics