Codes, ethics

Dealing with Ethical Dilemmas Using Codes and Other Resources 371 

Reference to one or more codes of ethics may be all the guidance you need. Consider your employer s code and the code or codes of your professional societies. If you are unable to provide a specific reference to your particular situation then, as noted earlier, refer to the foundation principles on which the code or codes were built. Ethics codes are omnipresent in that they are very likely to arise as individuals and groups apply the following four additional resources. 

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All societies have their rules of play their institutions. These institutions can be defined as the restrictions created by humanity to give structure to political, economic and social interaction. A society s institutions are at the same time its rules of play and its safeguard mechanisms. They can be formal, such as the Constitution, laws, property rights and ethical codes, or informal, such as customs, traditions and expected codes of conduct in a professional group. 

Measures aimed at altering behaviour (in users, the industry itself and health professionals, in order to attain a more rational use of pharmaceuticals and more ethical codes of conduct) from which indirect effects on expenditure may be derived ... 

Disciplinary action. The imposing of sanctions on a professional by his or her professional organization for violation of laws or ethical codes. Existentialism. Deep philosophical and spiritual questions about meaning and... 

The European Union (EU) and its Member States promote responsible research in order to help society draw the maximum benefit from scientific inquiry and in order to protect the rights of citizens, researchers, and other members of society (EU 2007). All EU-funded research activities must comply with an ethical code according to Article 3 of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6, 2002-2006) that states All the research activities carried out under FP6 must be carried out in compliance with fundamental ethical principles. No further guidance specifically directed toward the use of human data in the risk assessment of chemical substances is provided. 

However, international Good Epidemiology Practice guidelines have not yet been published. In all cases where scientific research involves human participants, internationally accepted ethical codes should be taken into consideration. 

The AZT trials triggered the revision and elaboration of documents such as the Declaration of Helsinki, the CIOMS-WHO Guidelines, a new report of the NBAC of the U.S. The battlefields of the standard of treatment debate were research ethical codes. The revision of the Declaration of Helsinki (WMA 2000) at the end of the 1990s is an... 

Proposing this new criterion in a document like the Declaration of Helsinki implies a policy that should rule all research being done. Note that the Declaration of Helsinki is "the" ethical code. It morally binds all researchers and should be abided by research ethics committees when evaluating protocols and sustained as a requirement when publishing an article. Hence, changing the standard of care in such a document would have a profound impact on research. It would imply a new normative criterion for all research. 

What have we learned so far The first issue has to do with the scope that the modification of standards would imply. The double standard as a criterion is broader than the scope that appeared to guide the initial reflections. It began by targeting AIDS but quickly pervaded all research. It has affected not only standards of treatment, but also the placebo debate. If it had been introduced into ethical codes like the Declaration of Helsinki, it would have implied a "universal policy" regulating all research. 

The trade-off between science and spirituality is fair and square in this formulation. We need no longer invoke disembodied spirits to account for mental life. At the same time, we can retain the notion of free will that is the basis of our ethical codes, our laws, and our self-respect. Stretching the point, we can envisage a materialist spirituality. Because conscious states include poetic wonder, awe, reverence, and numinosity, and because we know all such attributes are aspects of brain activity, we can safely say that the brain is not only conscious, but is also a spiritual self standing in appropriate awe of its own complexity, creativity, and social conscience. 

If a group of individuals, e.g., a private club, legislative committee or mass electorate, must collectively choose one or more alternatives from a set of alternatives, how can they go about it One possibility is to appeal to some detailed ethical code and select the alternative the code demands regardless of the preferences of the individuals concerned. 

In December 2004, the Norwegian Medical Association and LMI jointly laid down an ethical code and guidelines on cooperation and interactions between physicians and the pharmaceutical industry. 

However, it is more usual for breaches of the ethical code and disputes between competitors with regard to advertising to be handled by the self-regulatory body Farmaindustria. Infringement of the code will be classified as minor, serious or very serious based on the following criteria ... 

The names or photographs of health professionals must not be used in a prominent manner in promotional material or in any way that is contrary to the ethical code of the appropriate profession. 

In the UK and a number of other Member States there are industry guidelines or professional/ethical codes under which making specific compensation provision for research-related injuries is addressed (for example ABPI in the UK). In other Member States there are specific legal provisions with regard to the compensation of research subjects and also... 

One of the incentives behind the launch of SAS was the UK government s positive attitude towards environmental reporting and social/ethical issues (see section 2.6). Also, Robin Cook the Foreign Secretary, had supported the drawing up of a social/ ethical code of conduct for operating overseas. 

Morals Morals, or more easily moral codes, are considerably easier to understand than ethics or ethical codes. A moral code applies to behaviour and not to objects. In the Christian faith, basic moral standards of behaviour are laid down in the decalogue Thou shalt not kill , etc. Moral teaching lays down rules of behaviour, for use in fairly specific cases. 

One might hold an act by an enemy to be unethical although not immoral. The assumption here is that an ethical code which transcends all religious or moral codes, could, in principle at least, be defined. 

The majority of the students seemed to couch social justice within the various engineering code of ethics. For example one student stated, engineers have a code of ethics and once they follow the code of ethics there should not be any issues of social justice. Laws should regulate social justice and code of ethics. It seems that students limit their responsibility for social justice to the various ethical codes in their fields, we all must know and follow the code of ethics... we lose our license if engineers do not follow this. ... 

The National Sodety of Professional Enghteers (NSPE) ethics code is very detriled. The NSPE ethical code of conduct is used in makkg juc ments about ei lneering ethic-rdated cases that are brou t before the NSPE s Board of Ethics Review. The NSPE ethical code of conduct follom. 

Ethical codes and statements of ethical principles can be read as sets of rules. However, merely to follow a set of ethical mles is not necessarily to act ethically. To really act ethically we need to be motivated by sincere intentions and more particularly to act on the basis of experience. Engineers know the importance of experience in their technical work, and the irreplaceable value of practical experience has been expressed well by Vernon Watkins in the opening lines of his poem Fisherman [10] ... 

This Statement of Ethical Principles sets a standard to which members of the engineering profession should aspire in their working habits and relationships. The Statement is fully compatible with the principles in the UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser s Universal Ethical Code for Scientists, with an emphasis on matters of particular relevance to engineers. The values on which it is based should apply in every situation in which professional engineers exercise their judgement. 

It was noted in Chap. 1 that the Royal Academy of Engineering s Statement of Ethical Principles, in common with other modem professional ethical codes, is concerned with what should be done. This is also a concern of the Rule, but the... 

Su, J., Cao, N. (2008). [Studies of the evolution of ethical considerations of Chinese engineers Based on a historical inquiry into the revisions of the ethics code of the Chinese Institute of Engineers], 1933-1996. Ziran bianzhengfa tongxun [Journal of Dialectics of Nature], 30(6), 14-19. 

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