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Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics Volume 7, Issue 2, 2016 

 

Editorial 

 

Hello readers! Hope everyone is fine especially in this season where we often are prone to 

attacks of cold or flu. The holiday season is at our threshold, and we wish everyone to be in the 

best of health and happiness. 

 

This issue of the BJB is very interesting with topics stretching from Non Communicable 

Diseases to the ethical issues related to the habitation of the planet Mars, and proves how 

forward looking are our readers and authors. 

  

Mohammad Rashedul Islam et al discuss the application of the SARA method in a district in 

Bangladesh. The method is based on the principle of Service Availability and Readiness 

Assessment of WHO. The study in a district in Bangladesh found that about 62% of all the 

facilities were ready to provide general services like basic amenities with basic equipment, 

standard precautions for infection prevention, diagnostic capacity and essential medicines. 

However in case of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD), only 40% of the health facilities had 

chronic respiratory disease and cardiovascular diseases diagnosis/management and only 32% had 

availability of diabetes diagnosis/management. Therefore, service availability and readiness of 

the health facilities to provide NCD related health services were not satisfactory. The authors 

emphasize that SARA which is a tool to monitor facilities to be ready for provision of services 

including NCD, should be used by all clinic managers. 

 

The very scientific and forward looking article titled “SCNT Method and the Application for 

Patent Eligibility on Cloned Animals” by Norman K. Swazo reviews US federal court decisions 

regarding applications for patent in the case of live-born animal clones. A decision issued from 

the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit established an earlier decision of the 

Patent Trial and Appeal Board that live-born animals cloned by the somatic cell nuclear transfer 

method (SCNT) like cattle, sheep, pigs, and goats are not patentable, so a scientist using the 

method is not eligible for a patent claim on the animals. The author feels that this decision has 

ethical implications related to the moral status of cloned animals. The author argues whether 

the end product of a SCNT (somatic cell nuclear transfer) application is same as an invention or   

only a revelation of nature at the cellular level. The author quotes Article 11 of Universal 

Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights UNDHGR “Practices which are contrary 

to human dignity, such as reproductive cloning of human beings, shall not be permitted.” He 

concludes that the judicial assessments in the USA deciding on the question of patenting of 

animal clones provide important barriers to human reproductive cloning research, safeguarding 

moral and legal commitment to human dignity.   

 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics Volume 7, Issue 2, 2016 

 

The article on Ethics in Public Health Research and Clinical Research by Muhammad Waseem 

Khan et al discusses on the need to continue to focus on ethical values in conducting any 

research. Tha authors stress the importance, either in public health research or clinical research, 

of the need to  recognize an ethical standard that respects individual’s autonomy and 

community’s wellbeing. This can be achieved through collective collaboration for the protection 

of individual’s autonomy, dignity and wellbeing. Research ethics is a fundamental criterion to be 

complied with throughout a research study.  

The very interesting article on Planetary Protection for Mars: Time for Reconsideration by 

Svetoslav Alexandrov looks into the ethical questions beyond mother earth but which could be 

affected by people from our planet. In this manuscript the author discusses the ethics of the 

protection of hypothetical organisms on Mars in terms of planned manned space missions and 

subsequent colonization. The author discusses the possible problems related to a process called 

terraformation where the planet is converted to make it suitable for Earth life. He argues that 

terraformation will change the whole condition of the planet. The author quotes Carl Sagan, of 

The Planetary Society: “If there is life, then I believe we should do nothing to disturb that life. 

Mars then, belongs to the Martians, even if they are microbes” .I think we all agree with this 

brilliant recommendation. 

The article ‘We Still Need to Improve Our Research Writing Ethics’ by Sheikh Arslan Sehgal 

looks into the value of maintaining professional integrity of research work. Particularly with 

issues like plagiarism, ethics, authorship and data fabrication. He argues that the scientific 

community must obey the scientific ethical norms and rules. He feels that ethical problems must 

be resolved for the advancement of research in countries including Pakistan. The author 

recommends teaching students the international, institutional and professional standards 

regarding research and authorship issue. Thus from the beginning researchers will know the key 

components of ethics in conducting research and the end product will be research work of quality 

and acceptability. 

Dear Readers, we look forward to your articles, commentaries, observations on different issues 

which touch our lives and will help in broadening our knowledge and understanding of 

Bioethics. 

Season’s Greetings! 

Tahera Ahmed 

Editor 

Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 


