Ethical and Legal Challenges in Nanomedical Innovations

Nanotechnology is the design, production and application of systems, structures and devices at the nanoscopic scale. Rapid advancements in research and development related to nanomedical technology raise various ethical and legal challenges in areas relevant to disease detection, diagnosis and treatment.
This presentation covers issues associated with emerging nanomedicine and related clinical research; and identifies implications for the responsible advancement and integration of nanomedicine and nanomedical technology throughout medical networks in future.
Research indicated five key areas of ethical and legal concern - 1) harm exposure and potential risks to health, 2) consent to nano-research, 3) privacy, 4) access to nanomedical technology and potential nanomedical therapies, and 5) classification of nanomedical products in relation to the research and development of nanomedical technology.
Additionally, this study suggests that there are currently few practical solutions comprehensive enough to allay the ethical and legal concerns surrounding research and development in fields related to nanomedical technology, especially, as it continues to evolve and contributes to future innovations in medicine.
Findings also highlighted requirements for more coordinated approaches to worldwide standards of practice governing the study and development of nanomedical technology, as proposals for regulation of nanomedical research are mainly confined to systems of governance in the United States.

Il Ho Lee – Institute for Legal Studies – Yonsei University; Sumin Kim – Manager, Health and Welfare Administration Town, Korea National Institute for Bioethics Policy; Jae-Hyun Lee – Advanced Science Institute; Institute for Basic Science (IBS) Center for NanoMedicine – Yonsei University; Hannah Kim – Research Assistant Professor, Asian Institute of Bioethics and Health Law; College of Medicine, Division of Medical Humanities and Social Science, Yonsei University