Bioethics
Clearly, scientific investigation has extended and enhanced the quality of life and increased our understanding of ourselves, our relationships with others, and the natural world. It is one of the foundations of our society's material, intellectual, and social progress. For many citizens, scientific discoveries have alleviated the suffering caused by disease or disability. Nonetheless, the prospect of gaining such valuable scientific knowledge need not and should not be pursued at the expense of human rights or human dignity.
National Bioethics Advisory Commission, 2001
Bioethics Resources
A wide array of resources are available to persons who are interested in learning more about bioethics or obtaining information about specific bioethics issues. Below are links* to organizations that may provide bioethics resources, much of which may be publicly available.
Professional Bioethics Organizations
American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics (ASLME)
American Society for Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH)
Association for Practical & Professional Ethics
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R)
Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs
Professional Organizations’ Bioethics Links
American Nurses Association’s (ANA) The Center for Ethics and Human Rights
American Medical Association (AMA): "Medical ethics "
American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS) Scientific Freedom, Responsibility and Law Program
World Health Organization’s (WHO) Research Ethics Committee and Policies
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
World Medical Association Ethics Unit (includes access to Declaration of Helsinki)
Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS) (includes access to International Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Human Subjects)
Bioethics Centers, Institutes and Journals
Institute for the Medical Humanities (University of Texas Medical Branch)
Ethics in Science and Medicine Program (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center)
Center for Medical Humanities & Ethics (University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio)
Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy (Baylor College of Medicine and Rice University)
Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics (JERHRE)
The Hastings Center (Hastings Center Report and IRB: Ethics and Human Research journals)
Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy (Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine)
The Poynter Center (Indiana University)
Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (includes codes of ethics links)
National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care (Tuskegee University)
Center for Bioethics (University of Pennsylvania)
Phoebe R. Berman Institute of Bioethics (Johns Hopkins University)
Medical Research Summit Home
National Catholic Bioethics Center
Case Western Reserve University Department of Bioethics
MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics (University of Chicago)
University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics
Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics (Stanford University)
Nuffield Council on Bioethics
Kennedy Institute of Ethics (Georgetown University)
Institute for Global Ethics
Alden March Bioethics Institute (Albany Medical College, NY)
Journal of Medical Ethics
U.S. Government Bioethics Links
The President’s Council on Bioethics (U.S.)
Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (includes access to the Common Rule and the Belmont Report)
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Human Subjects Research (includes access to the Nuremberg Code and Guidelines for the Conduct of Research Involving Human Subjects at NIH)
National Human Genome Research Institute (NIH) Ethical, Legal and Social Implications Program
NIH Office of Extramural Research (Protecting Human Subject Research Participants course)
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (includes access to Guidance for IRBs, Investigators and Sponsors and Good Clinical Practice) (click the FDA widget at the bottom of this page for drug safety information)
Former Bioethics Commissions (via The President’s Council on Bioethics)
National Center for Ethics Veterans Health Administration (U.S.)
Other Country Government & International Bioethics Links
Council of Europe Bioethics Division (including access to Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine: Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine and Additional Protocol to the Convention Concerning Biomedical Research)
EUROPA - European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies
Canadian Institutes of Health Research/Ethics Office
Finnish National Advisory Board on Health Care and Ethics (ETENE)
French National Consultative Committee for Health and Life Sciences
German National Ethics Commission
Centre for Ethics and Health of the Health Council of the Netherlands
Hellenic National Bioethics Commission
Swedish National Council on Medical Ethics
Japan Pharmaceutical Regulations (Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association)
United Nations Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights
Miscellaneous
To access drug safety information from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, click on the widget below:
*some links may require Adobe Reader program to open; use the Adobe link to the right for a free download
If you have other suggestions about links that may be useful, please let us know by visiting our contact page. The links below are updated periodically. Note: listings on this page are publicly accessible or available and are not meant to constitute an endorsement


