BioIndustry Ethics (Paperback)

~ David L. Finegold (Author), Cecile M Bensimon (Author), Abdallah S. Daar (Author), Margaret L. Eaton (Author), Beatrice Godard (Author), Bartha Maria Knoppers (Author), Jocelyn Mackie (Author), Peter A. Singer (Author) "The genesis of the topic of bioscience-business ethics is the realization that DNA knowledge can be applied to produce breakthrough medical, agricultural, and other products..." (more)
Key Phrases: ensuring ethical decision making, bioscience firms, biodiversity collaborations, Novo Nordisk, United States, Vice President (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies are often driven by profit goals, but the case studies in Bioindustry Ethics show that this is increasingly not at the expense of ethical integrity. ...lend[s] important insights to other executives and professionals who might be developing their own practices and policies."
- GENOMICS & PROTEOMICS (August 2005)

Book Description

An introduction to the increasingly important role of ethics in bioscience companies

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Academic Press; 1 edition (June 24, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0123693705
• ISBN-13: 978-0123693709
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #539,733 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful case-studies, concusions too optimistic, August 5, 2006

By	C. Macdonald "Ethics Prof" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book provides a useful range of case-studies, illustrating how various biotech and companies pharmaceutical companies have dealt with ethical issues. This is useful for two reasons:
1) If you want to understand why companies do what they do, you need some insight into their internal decision-making;
2) The companies profiled in BioIndustry Ethics are not perfect, ethically, but each of them has made at least some effort to do better. So at least in THAT sense, they serve as positive examples of ways other companies can move foreward.

My main complaint is with the final chapter, which attempts to summarize the lessons learned from the book's various case-studies. Unfortunately, the result is relatively weak. The chapter adopts a rather one-sided view of the bottom-line value of ethics to a corporation, implying that adopting an explicit focus on ethics, for example, is a sure-and-easy route to profit. (There is in fact a literature debating that issue, in the field of Business Ethics.)

Still, the book is overall a very valuable contribution.