Technology has been an important driving force to improve human lives throughout all of history. From the wheel and the plow through the horseless carriage and the space shuttle technology has given us enormous benefits but usually with some related problems. The automobile not only provided mobility but also generated smog, urban sprawl, and traffic jams.

Biotechnology is no different. Biotechnologies, such as vaccines, MRIs, and heart surgery, have improved our health and extended our lifetimes. However some of the newest of these technologies, such as stem cell research at the beginnings of life and life sustaining tools at the ends of life, are raising ethical and social questions, not least of which is “What does it mean to be a human being?”.

In the following sections PHL will attempt to explain some of these technologies. In these explanations we deliberately avoid reference to religious beliefs and teachings except insofar as they advance the knowledge of the subject.

Some other web sites do a superb job of explaining the ethical issues surrounding some of these technologies. The Presidents Council on Bioethics www.bioethics.gov goes into great and clear depth on a number of issues. The Ethics and Public Policy Center www.eppc.org explains the technologies from a pro-life point of view. Father Tad at the National Catholic Bioethics Center www.ncbcenter.org has published a series of short essays on these issues.

Everyone thinking seriously about biotech issues should read (or read again) Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World

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There are a number of other useful web sites and books listed elsewhere on this site.