From an epidemiological perspective, the practice of universal vaccination of girls and young women in order to prevent human papilloma virus (HPV) infection and potential development of cervical cancer is widely accepted even though it may lead to the neglect of other preventive strategies against cervical cancer.

Gene therapy and gene editing are revolutionising the treatment of genetic diseases, most notably haematological disorders. This paper evaluates the use of both techniques in hereditary blood disorders. Many studies have been conducted in this field, especially with gene therapy, with very promising results in diseases such as haemophilia, certain haemoglobinopathies and Fanconi anaemia. The application of these techniques in clinical practice and the foreseeable development of these approaches in the coming years suggest that it might be useful to evaluate (...) the results achieved thus far. It is also essential to reflect on the possible bioethical concerns raised by the use of both techniques, especially in terms of safety issues for patients, potential side effects, treatment duration, accessibility and cost of treatment, and the heritability of genetic changes produced if germline cells are used. (shrink)

En este trabajo se plantea lo que un no-físico debería saber sobre la estructura de la materia, su origen y el desarrollo del Universo, para, sobre esa base científica, plantear una reflexión sobre cómo se inició nuestro Universo y en qué medida o no pudo participar en ese inicio un Dios creador. El trabajo se estructura en seis capítulos y una reflexión final. En el primero se aborda el estudio de las partículas más elementales que componen la materia; en el (...) segundo las fuerzas que las unen; en el tercero las teorías del mundo subatómico; en el cuarto el Big Bang y las primeras etapas de desarrollo del Universo; en el quinto la formación de los primeros atisbos de materia y en el sexto la teoría de un Universo infinito, como una solución a la no necesidad de que nuestro Universo se hubiera tenido que iniciar en un momento determinado. En la reflexión final se plantea la racionalidad de la posible existencia de un Dios creador, a la luz de los actuales conocimientos científicos sobre el origen de nuestro Universo. (shrink)

An unquestionably important biological question is whether human beings are the product of chance or of purpose in the evolutionary process. Charles Darwin did not accept purpose in biological evolution, a view not shared by his colleague Alfred Russel Wallace. The controversy has remained ever since, and while many experts argue against purpose in biological evolution, many others defend it. This paper reflects on this biological and ethical problem, relating it to the possible existence of a plan that governs and (...) shapes the evolution of living beings and that is ultimately responsible for the development of Homo sapiens. (shrink)

Although synthetic biology is a promising discipline, it also raises serious ethical questions that must be addressed in order to prevent unwanted consequences and to ensure that its progress leads toward the good of all. Questions arise about the role of this discipline in a possible redefinition of the concept of life and its creation. With regard to the products of synthetic biology, the moral status that they should be given as well as the ethically correct way to behave towards (...) them are not clear. Moreover, risks that could result from a misuse of this technology or from an accidental release of synthetic organisms into the environment cannot be ignored; concerns about biosecurity and biosafety appear. Here we discuss these and other questions from a personalist ontological framework, which defends human life as an essential value and proposes a set of principles to ensure the safeguarding of this and other values that are based on it. (shrink)

Although synthetic biology is a promising discipline, it also raises serious ethical questions that must be addressed in order to prevent unwanted consequences and to ensure that its progress leads toward the good of all. Questions arise about the role of this discipline in a possible redefinition of the concept of life and its creation. With regard to the products of synthetic biology, the moral status that they should be given as well as the ethically correct way to behave towards (...) them are not clear. Moreover, risks that could result from a misuse of this technology or from an accidental release of synthetic organisms into the environment cannot be ignored; concerns about biosecurity and biosafety appear. Here we discuss these and other questions from a personalist ontological framework, which defends human life as an essential value and proposes a set of principles to ensure the safeguarding of this and other values that are based on it. (shrink)

Synthetic biology opens up the possibility of producing new entities not found in nature, whose classification as organisms or machines has been debated. In this paper we are focusing on the delimitation of the moral value of synthetic products, in order to establish the ethically right way to behave towards them. In order to do so, we use personalism as our ethical framework. First, we examine how we can distinguish between organisms and machines. Next, we discuss whether the products of (...) synthetic biology can be considered organisms at all and assess what their moral value is and how should we behave towards them. Finally, we discuss the hypothetical case of synthetic humans. (shrink)

Prenatal genetic diagnosis with new high-performance technologies such as genomic array adds great complexity to the ethical dilemmas that already exist in current medicine. The main objective of this study was to carry out an analysis and bioethical reflections centred on the outcome associated with the use of the genetic array technique in 185 pregnancies at the Hospital Universitario y Politécnico La Fe (Valencia, Spain). It is an observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study during the years 2014 to 2017, inclusive. We (...) analyse the results and the follow-up of the 185 cases in which this prenatal genetic study was carried out by array technique. Of the 185 prenatal genetic studies carried out, 165 showed no copy number variants (normal result) and in the 20 remaining pregnancies (10.81%), a dose change was detected. Abortion was carried out in 11 cases with pathological and/or probably pathological abnormalities. Of the 165 cases in which no dose variant was detected, an abortion was carried out in 49 cases, which represents 29.7%. The introduction of new genomic analysis techniques to invasive prenatal diagnosis highlights the ethical problems that arise above all in the interpretation of genetic variants detected and genetic counselling, while emphasising the need for correct informed consent and it adds, if possible, more controversy to a subject with great bioethical substance such as abortion. (shrink)

The bioethics research conducted in Ibero‐American countries has been very much restricted to its own realm.The aim of this study was to perform a bibliometric evaluation of bioethics papers by authors affiliated with Ibero‐American institutions, and to determine how their work influences global bioethics literature.We performed a literature search in the Web of Science Core Collection (WoS CC) and Scopus.We identified a total of 5,975 documents, of which 84.3% were articles, 11.6% reviews and 4.1% book chapters. The median number of (...) citations per paper was higher in English‐language journals.Only 10 articles published between 2010 and 2019 in peer‐reviewed bioethics journals and produced exclusively by authors from Ibero‐American institutions garnered more than 15 citations.Our study suggests that if researchers from Ibero‐American institutions want to influence global bioethical thinking, they must make the required leap in quality to be able to publish in high‐quality bioethics and mainstream journals. (shrink)