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(42 per cent perceived more risks; 32 per cent perceived more tend to veil their ulterior motives with noble ideas and excuses.
benefits). Basing on the assumption that journalists and scientists
are better informed than the public on biotechnology, the correlation
above points to a need for better education in biotechnology.
Having the knowledge and knowing the actual risks (not the
perceived risks) involved, the ethical issue would be to weigh the
benefits against the risks and thereafter make the choice or decision.
In this balancing act the primary consideration should not be purely
utilitarian or financial benefits as is usually the case but rather
due consideration must be given to the suffering of lives involved
should risks occur. In this case, the people involved in the choice
or decision-making must search their own conscience to arrive at
their choice or decision. The choice or decision is therefore very
much dependent on one’s moral conscience, which is in turn very
much dependent on one’s moral upbringing or religious education.
Buddhism sees all psychophysical lives as precious. Human
lives, in particular, is the most precious as it is through human life
that one could attain the highest spiritual level. For a Buddhist who
is brought up in this kind of ethical orientation, his moral conscience
is likely to lead him to a more wholesome choice or decision.
The motives in making a choice or decision is very important.
One should sincerely ask whether a decision to go ahead with an
experiment is really motivated by a desire to help others (inclusive
of adequate compensation for one’s effort), or by a selfish desire
to make a quick profit. When risks and benefits are assessed with
positive motivation, the decision or choice taken would be very
different from when they were assessed with selfish motives.
However, motives are difficult to identify. Human beings
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From the Buddhist perspective, one is responsible for one’s own
action (karma), and hence one who acts with bad motives will
receive the results of his own bad action. However, this should
not be misconstrued as allowing individuals to act as they like.
On the contrary, there should be greater public participation and
transparency in the above assessment, which can help to reveal the
real motives.
Sanctity of Life
Although Buddhism talks about the unsatisfactory nature of the
world, the central teaching of the Buddha is not for us to weep over
dukkha and do nothing about it; rather we should walk the Noble
Eightfold Path that leads to the reduction of dukkha and eventually
the attainment of supreme bliss or Nibbāna. Buddhism is therefore
a teaching that emphasises the path to happiness and the reduction
of suffering.
Within the Noble Eightfold Path is found the principle of
non-harming (ahiṃsā). Together with the principle of ahimsa
is compassion (karuṇā) which guides our action in dealing with
beings who are less fortunate.
Thus, Buddhism would not agree to any actions that inflict
harm and suffering to other sentient beings. Unfortunately, at the
present moment, both in conventional science and biotechnology,
much of the above rules are violated. In biotechnology, some of the
horrific acts include intrusive and sometimes painful reproductive
manipulation, repeated surgical operation to remove eggs from
female breeding stock, and to implant embryos to produce
transgenic and cloned animals. These horrific acts are committed,
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