New Horizons in Biotechnology 268 [REVIEW ARTICLE] THE CHALLENGES TO HUMAN DIGNITY IN MEDICAL BIOETHICS (BIOETHICS AND BIOSAFETY) Priyadarshini LMV 1 and Vijaya Kumar G 2 1 Department of Biotechnology, St Joseph’s Degree College, Kurnool, AP. 2 Department of Management Studies, RGMCET (Autonomous) Nandyal- 518501, Kurnool Dist, AP. Correspondence: dr.vijaygadda@gmail.com Cite this article as: Priyadarshini LMV and Vijaya Kumar G (2015). The Challenges to Human Dignity in Medical Bioethics (Bioethics and Biosafety). In: New Horizons in Biotechnology. (Eds. Viswanath B and Indravathi G) Paramount Publishing House, India, pp. 268-271. Recent developments in the life sciences – genetic engineering, cloning, and manipulation of cell lines, exploitation of genetic resources – have sparked vigorous debate about the ethical dimension of these new technologies. The reasons are not hard to identify. Life sciences research literally touches on issues of life and death. Biotechnology aims to serve basic human needs such as human health, food and a safe environment, touches on fundamental values, such as human dignity and the genetic integrity of humanity, can raise human rights issues such as access to health and benefits from scientific progress, raises concerns over equitable access to the fruits of new technologies, the consent of those involved in research, and protection of the environment. The ethical dimension of the life sciences touches many issues and policy communities, but one widely debated aspect is the ethical implications of protect in biotechnological inventions through the intellectual property. Intellectual property refers to legal rights resulting from intellectual activity in the industrial, scientific, literary and artistic fields. IP systems protect certain well-defined subject matter by giving limited entitlements to eligible right holders to exclude others from certain uses of the protected material. But an IP right does not give the holder the entitlement to use or market a product. Keywords: Genetic integrity of humanity, Human rights issue, Intellectual property and legal rights. INTRODUCTION: Bioethics consultation is flourishing in private sector now a days. The corporate clients are aware that their work raises substantive ethical issues, and often they are concerned about how their response to these issues may affect their public image and their financial standing. Many are prepared to compensate ethics consultants at substantioal rates. This is a new phenomenon for the field of bioethics. Traditionally, most requests for comment and analysis arouse within the academic setting, where compensation for consultation is generally modest, if it is offered at all. But consultations are not new.Bioethics have provided clinical consultatiions on individual cases and on policy development with in academic medical centers,health care institutions [1] . They have consulted about the design and conduct of clinical trails .they have also parrticipated as consultants for governemental,quasi public, and private-foundation working groups developing guidelines for the ethical practice of medicine, biochemical research and health policy. Ethics related to patenting: Nearly 30,000 human genes have been patented in the US. Patents will often be secured in countries throughout the world where the patent owner thinks there may be a viable market. Patents are granted by the US government to inventors for new, non obvious and useful inventions and discoveries, and similar standards of patentability are applied around the globe. A patent grants to its owner the right to exclude others from making, using, or selling a patented machine or composition of matter, or using a patented method, typically for a period of 20 years from the date of filing a patent application. In contrast to trade secrets (which must be kept secret by their owner, and do not protect against independent invention), patents require disclosure that teaches the world how to make and use an invention. Rewarding the inventor with a period of exclusivity during which time profits may be earned from its commercialization. Throughout the developed world, patents are awarded following an examination by a patent agency (e.g., the European Patent Office, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office). Examination procedures ensure that inventions fulfill the standards for patentability, and that the patent grants protection only for that which has been invented, and no more. The patent claim defines the scope of patent protection. Typically, there is a negotiation between the inventor and the patent examiner, with the former trying to get very broad protections, and the latter seeking to allow a patent narrowly restricted to the technological improvements made by an invention and disclosed in the specification. Broad claims often may be granted for breakthrough inventions, such as those on the Polymerase Chain Reaction, recombinant technology, gene knock-out methods, and even to individual gene sequences. Because broad claims to inventions such as a sequence or a recombinant protein are so basic, they cannot easily be invented around, and any improvements are likely to require licenses before they can be used commercially. In biotechnology, such licenses may be impossible to secure, since the owners of the dominant patents are likely to depend upon them to maintain market exclusivity [2,3] . Broad claims, in any technology, will create a disincentive for downstream development and improvements [4] . A patent grants what is called a negative right – the right to enjoin others from using the claimed invention without permission. A patent owner may turn to the government – through lawsuits for infringement – to use its judicial and