In all cultures, the people with special knowledge and powers to deal with suffering and death also have special obligations. In their respective societies, healers and health professionals have thus always been subject to a wide variety of written and unwritten rules.

For more than a millennium in the Western medical tradition, the Hippocratic oath has encapsulated some of the principles that ate still seen as essential for good practice in the health professions. And for almost 50 years now, the World Health Organization has set technical and ethical standards and proposed guidelines and codes of good practice in virtually all areas of health, as mandated by its Constitution. The Organization also contributes to the harmonization of legislation and terminology, and fosters the dissemination and exchange of information on these subjects.

Ethics today is a matter of lively public interest. This reflects a strong desire to assert some measure of control over the current proliferation of new biomedical and information technology. People want the benefits of science and technology,but they also want democratic: control over their own lives and societies. Hence the concern among the general public is to be consulted, to ensure that science and technology are harnessed to protect rather than endanger human dignity, health, well being and diversity.

Genetics, for example, offers the hope of therapies for previously incurable diseases but it also holds the risk of eugenics. Screening is a valuable tool for prevention and care, but may also lead to discrimination and breaches of confidentiality.

Organ transplants can save lives but they also raise difficult issues such as accessibility, cultural resistance and commercialization. Technology which prolongs life also prolongs the dying process.

These are not just theoretical matters. They concern the professional ethics of all those involved—scientists, health workers, economists and politicians alike. They also, of course, concern us all because they deeply affect our lives and relationships.

The issues raised will not be settled by a list of abstract principles or by medical judgment alone. Ethical dilemmas arise in concrete situations which are shaped by biomedical culture. They require careful consideration of both what is desirable and what is possible. For example, how do we balance individual with social needs? How do we ensure that quality of care is reconciled with equity and is not used as a pretext to serve the interests of the few7 If the development of technology is driven by market forces, what happens to the principle of health for all? How do we ensure that research and health development take into account the needs of the poor and provide them with effective health care and services?

According to the passage, which statement is NOT true?