Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 10 (2000), 33.

This March issue sees more papers from TRT5 conference, and can be divided into medical issues and the issue of animals. The cross-cultural nature of the papers should stimulate readers to consider how their culture may or may not affect attitudes.

Tanida looks at how generally Japanese religions accept the idea of leaving end of life to nature, supporting the Catholic view on not to follow extraordinary treatment. Bunch examines nursing in Norway, using an interview method to examine peoples perceptions. Pandya (from IAB4) reviews the history of medical ethics in India, and Erdemir describes the history of organ transplants, with a special emphasis on Turkey. Autonomy in Turkey is examined by Manickavel, and it continues the religious theme of Tanida.

There is a paper from Loyola College on the need for science education, by two biologists who work in both bioethics and biology fields. Then Morris discusses the origin of altruism, with a commentary by Azariah. The links between altruism and love were explored in my book Bioethics is Love of Life, and the papers here are useful to extend the discussion. Given the news that the genome sequence of human beings is over 90% finished it will be possible to extend these studies into genetics in the near future.

This past month two further books were published from Eubios Ethics Institute, and will be back from the printers soon (to order see the back page). One is a series of papers on the genome project, looking at the ethical issues, Ethical Challenges as we approach the end of the Human Genome Project.

The other book is only in Japanese, and is the results and papers from the first 16 meetings of the high school teachers bioethics network which I started in 1996. There is an English description of this in the paper by Asada and Macer in Bioethics in Asia (and that paper is now on-line on my paper list). Unfortunately resources and time do not permit the translation into English, but we hope at least in the future more educational stimulation can occur between the Japanese network and other countries.

I am planning a program of meetings and dialogue in the first week of August in New Zealand, to bring some bioethics network teachers from Japan to meet New Zealand teachers. If people from other countries wish to join they are most welcome (no funds are available to support persons).

Be well, and thanks for your support.

- Darryl Macer