Scientists’ Perception of Ethical Issues in Nanomedicine: A Case Study

Costa, Helena Silva; Sethe, Sebastian; Pêgo, Ana Paula; Olsson, I. Anna S.

doi:10.2217/nnm.11.9

Cited by 18 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Conflicts around redistribution, justice, and equity in health care must also be considered anew in the context of NM (Allhoff 2009 ; Bawa and Johnson 2009 ). Even though it has been documented that practitioners in the field of health care perceive some ethical issues associated with the application of NTs in medicine but without recognizing them as new issues specific to NM (Silva Costa et al 2011 ), experts’ impact perception in direct connection with NM has not been studied. Among all the nanomedical applications, targeted drug delivery by nanocarriers is amongst the forerunner in terms of promises and R&D efforts in NM.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of disciplinary cultures of researchers and research trainees on the acceptability of nanocarriers for drug delivery in different contexts of use: a mixed-methods study

et al. 2015

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The acceptability of nanomedical applications, which have the potential to generate ethical and societal impacts, is a significant factor in the deployment of nanomedicine. A lack of fit between nanomedical applications and society’s values may result from a partial consideration of such impacts. New approaches for technological evaluation focused on impact perception, acceptance, and acceptability are needed to go beyond traditional technology assessment approaches used with nanotechnology, which focus mainly on toxicological and safety criteria. Using a new evaluative approach based on perceived impacts of nanotechnology, the objective of this study was to assess perceptions among researchers and research trainees familiar with emergent technologies and from different disciplinary background the scope of acceptability judgments made towards the use of nanocarriers. This mixed-methods study was based on scenarios presenting two types of drug-delivery nanocarriers (carbon, synthetic DNA) in two contexts of use (lung cancer treatment, seasonal flu treatment). Researchers and research trainees in the natural sciences and engineering, and the social sciences and the humanities were invited by email to take part in this project. An online questionnaire followed by semi-directed interviews allowed characterization of disciplinary divergences regarding to impact perception, acceptance, and acceptability of the scenarios. The results suggest that impact perception is influenced by disciplinary culture. Also, trends can be seen between respondents’ profiles and variables of acceptance and acceptability, and certain components of the acceptability judgement are specific to each disciplinary culture. The acknowledgment and consideration of these disciplinary divergences could allow, among others, for opening up interdisciplinary dialogue on matters related to the acceptability of nanomedical applications and their developments.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of disciplinary cultures of researchers and research trainees on the acceptability of nanocarriers for drug delivery in different contexts of use: a mixed-methods study

et al. 2015

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“…Kuiken 2010 ). Costa et al 2011 found that many scientists reflect with ambiguity on the reputed novelty of nanomedicine and what the ethical issues and risks are in their work. Researchers often see no need for a shift in ethical considerations, but view ethical issues in nanomedicine as overlapping with those of other areas of biomedical research (Wickson et al 2008 ).…”

Section: Reduction and Systems Approaches In Biology Medicine And Nmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of philosophy of science in Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI): the case of nanomedicine

Oftedal

2014

Life Sci Soc Policy

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Research on ethical, legal and social aspects (ELSA) of life sciences and new technologies has mainly been focused on impacts and consequences, while the emerging framework of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) focuses rather on increased involvement and reflexivity in research processes to foster science and technology that better answers the needs of society. I argue that philosophy of science should be a central feature of RRI and demonstrate how the philosophy of science can contribute in this sense. I show how investigating basic assumptions in research, here exemplified by reductive assumptions in causal modeling, can have important ethical and societal implications.

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“…Finally, the perceptions of practitioners in the field of NM were studied from the perspective of ethical aspects of their clinical practice. The work of Silva Costa et al suggests that these practitioners are interested in reflecting on ethical issues in their work but overall do not consider ethical issues associated with NM to be new and solely associated to NM [ 14 ]. Overall, the investigation of risks and benefits has mostly focussed on the establishment of general relationships between impacts and the apprehension and awareness of respondents toward the applications presented.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given the recognized fact that no impact can be perceived and prioritized in an equal manner either in all the fields of application for NT [ 22 ] or by all users, it is appropriate to expand the study of impact perception around acceptability of NM, seeing as these bear on each application, while paying special attention to the individual profiles of assessors and to the context of use. The perspective of researchers on NM has not been the study of numerous studies [ 14 , 23 ] and no work has been done to understand how they formulate their acceptability judgments and what they do take into account in arriving in such judgments. Given the social innovations context within which NM is drafted, the assessment of acceptability by researchers in the field of emerging technologies may help in aligning the implementation and development of technologies such as nanotechnologies with societal preferences [ 23 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analyses of Acceptability Judgments Made Toward the Use of Nanocarrier-Based Targeted Drug Delivery: Interviews with Researchers and Research Trainees in the Field of New Technologies

et al. 2015

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The assessment of nanotechnology applications such as nanocarrier-based targeted drug delivery (TDD) has historically been based mostly on toxicological and safety aspects. The use of nanocarriers for TDD, a leading-edge nanomedical application, has received little study from the angle of experts’ perceptions and acceptability, which may be reflected in how TDD applications are developed. In recent years, numerous authors have maintained that TDD assessment should also take into account impacts on ethical, environmental, economic, legal, and social (E3LS) issues in order to lead to socially responsible innovation. Semi-structured interviews (n = 22) were conducted with French and Canadian researchers and research trainees with diverse disciplinary backgrounds and involved in research related to emerging technologies. The interviews focussed on scenarios presenting two types of TDD nanocarriers (carbon, synthetic DNA) in two contexts of use (lung cancer, seasonal flu). Content and inductive analyses of interviews showed how facets of perceived impacts such as health, environment, social cohabitation, economy, life and death, representations of the human being and nature, and technoscience were weighed in acceptability judgments. The analyses also revealed that contextual factors related to device (nature of the treatment), to use (gravity of the disease), and to user (culture) influenced the weighting assigned to perceived impacts and thus contributed to variability in interviewees’ judgments of acceptability. Giving consideration to researchers’ perspective could accompany first steps of implementation and development of nanomedicine by producing a first, but wide, picture of the acceptability of nanocarrier-based TDD.

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Scientists’ Perception of Ethical Issues in Nanomedicine: A Case Study

Cited by 18 publications

References 26 publications

Effects of disciplinary cultures of researchers and research trainees on the acceptability of nanocarriers for drug delivery in different contexts of use: a mixed-methods study

Effects of disciplinary cultures of researchers and research trainees on the acceptability of nanocarriers for drug delivery in different contexts of use: a mixed-methods study

The role of philosophy of science in Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI): the case of nanomedicine

Analyses of Acceptability Judgments Made Toward the Use of Nanocarrier-Based Targeted Drug Delivery: Interviews with Researchers and Research Trainees in the Field of New Technologies

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