13.7.4. Ethical issues

Ethical issues concerning innovation are often very controversial within and among countries for a number of reasons often depending on differences in cultural, religion and other societal characteristics. Examples of innovative technologies that have been associated to considerable ethical debate include assisted reproduction (e.g. cloning) or birth control (e.g. day-after pill) methodologies as well as the development of genetically-modified organisms for food/feed use. “global warming” is also a controversial ethical issue considering that many countries that are not significantly contributing to carbon dioxide emissions and, therefore, not receiving significant benefits from them, are likely to be heavily affected by their environmental impact. Moreover, the process of risk-benefit assessment of innovative technologies is quite controversial due to the difficulty of expressing risks in the same currency of benefits and that those likely to experience risks are often not those experiencing the benefits.

Addressing ethical issues of innovation is obviously very important, thus a European Group on Ethics and New Technologies (EGE) has been established at European level. The group is consulted for specific opinions to be considered by the European Commission and Member States.