Biotechnology and Bioethics in Islamic Iran: Policy Review

Executive Summary

Contemporary biotechnology has made considerable contributions to the global agriculture and health sectors. The development of medicines, pharmaceuticals, and vaccines using recombinant DNA technology has made biotechnology a multibillion-dollar global industry. Additionally, PCR-based diagnostics have emerged as a crucial element of the health industry. Because the vast majority of Islamic nations have economies centered on agriculture, biotechnology holds enormous potential to improve efficiency in these countries.

The demand for food in Islamic nations over the past two decades is predicted to increase by nearly half. That increase will have to come through improvements in agricultural efficiency in marginal, fertile, salt-affected, and rainfed areas. There will likely be less workforce, arable land, and water available to the agriculture sector. This scenario results from a declining rural population, poor management of water reserves and supplies, environmental degradation and infertility, and above all, rising populations. To meet these challenges, technologies such as biotechnology must be applied to address many of these problems.

Exposure of farmers to biotechnological education could cultivate an appreciation of biotechnology for growth and development. Capacity-development schemes and programs could go a long way toward resolving uncertainties about the use of biotechnology across a range of sectors. Capacity development — for example, in the acquisition and use of GMOs in agriculture, field trials, and the assessment of environmental and human impact — could generate responses more favorable than those currently produced by a lack of training.

Through national capacity-building programs, international cooperation, and regional networks, developing nations can harness the potential of biotechnology as a valuable instrument for addressing hunger, illness, and poverty. Gradual advancement and demonstrated successes will bear out the long-term benefits of biotechnology for national economic progress and development. It is also time for developing nations to be more proactive in identifying their unique strengths, weaknesses, and competencies, and in setting the agenda and pace for applying biotechnology to their own scientific and national development plans. Ethical recommendations for conducting biotechnology research include well-designed studies, appropriate cooperation with ethics commissions, and respect for the rights of research subjects, both animal and human.

Introduction

Significant advances in biomedical technologies — including gamete and stem cell research, genetic testing, and embryo donation and therapy — have prompted a reclassification of what constitutes life. In the developed world, the ethical and emotional debates surrounding these technologies have been substantial. Within Muslim communities, the response has been equally fraught with religious and moral concerns, and a comparable absence of consensus. Fatwas (religious decrees) on these contemporary debates vary among distinct Islamic schools of thought; these rulings in practice reflect local customs, national contexts, and moral traditions. Marcia Inhorn's (2010) analysis comparing Shia and Sunni approaches to gamete donation and infertility treatment in Lebanon and Egypt highlighted how differing Islamic understandings of what is permissible shape government reproductive policies and clinical practices.

This paper discusses biotechnology and bioethics in the Islamic Republic of Iran. It reviews the state of bioethics and biotechnology in Iran and offers policy recommendations.

Background of the Problem

The German Guidelines for Human Experimentation (1931) are regarded as the first regulations of their kind for scientific and therapeutic research on human subjects, and remained in effect until the mid-1940s. In 1947, the Nuremberg Code was enacted, establishing further procedures governing human experimentation (Shahraz, 2002). However, neither of those frameworks included reference to genetic research and study.

In 1991, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) published regulations for the protection of human subjects. These guidelines included detailed explanations of key bioethical terminology and outlined the role of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) in supporting researchers undertaking biomedical studies (Shahraz, 2002). Similarly, in 1993, the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS), in cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO), issued guidelines for biomedical research involving human subjects.

Iran's scientific accomplishments have a long history. Before the arrival of Islam, it was a leader in astronomy and mathematics. Like much of the Middle East, however, its scientific prominence declined as the Renaissance began in Europe during the fourteenth century. Over the following centuries, Iran developed gradually and was unable to reach its full scientific potential (Saniei & De Vries, 2008). It has more recently begun to invest substantially in science, and significant advances are taking place in embryonic stem cell (ESC) research with full governmental support.

In 2002, Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, declared support for human embryo development and research, and commended scientists who had created stem cells. Iran's political leaders and clerics have actively promoted science and technology in an effort to enhance the country's international standing. According to Iran's Shia religious clergy, biotechnological applications such as stem cell therapy are permissible only during the pre-ensoulment stages of fetal development (Larijani and Zahedi, 2008). Because of these relatively liberal religious rulings regarding the use of biotechnology for therapeutic purposes and research, Iran was among the first Islamic nations to produce embryonic stem cells (Saniei & De Vries, 2008).

Other fields related to biotechnology have also advanced in Iran. These developments reflect cooperation between research units where stem cells are prepared and clinical centers where patients are selected, treated, and monitored. Current bioethics bodies in Iran include the Ministry of Medical Education and Health and the Office of Research for Islamic and Humanistic Science on Medical Ethics and Medicine. This office drafted a 27-clause act entitled the Protection Code of Human Subjects in Medical Research. The Act addresses crucial ethical considerations such as informed consent, human rights during research, project certification based on benefits and risks, privacy of subject data, compensation for volunteer research subjects, recognition of religious and cultural implications, protections for individuals with mental illness and prisoners, and the conduct of research on fetuses. In addition to drawing on the Helsinki Declaration and CIOMS documents as its scientific foundation, the code was tailored to reflect the Shia religious legal framework and the particular cultural circumstances of the Iranian public (Larijani, Zahedi & Malek Afzali, 2005).

Policy Options and Evaluation Criteria

The enhancement and modification of living organisms, as well as the development of microorganisms through biotechnology, raises ethical challenges for all religions, including Islam. Islam seeks to refine its religious doctrines and expand their moral imagination. In Islam, bioethical decisions are grounded in the moral teachings of the Quran, the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad, and the interpretation of Islamic law. Bioethics in Islam is an extension of Islamic law (Shariah), which itself rests on two foundational pillars: the Quran (the Muslim holy book) and the Sunna (the recorded acts and words of Prophet Muhammad). Consensus (ijmaa) and analogy (qiyas) are two additional pillars involved in the development of Islamic law. Consideration is also given to maslaha (public good) and urf (native cultural precedent) where appropriate. The Shia branch of Islam has in several instances developed its own authority systems, methodologies, and interpretations; however, its bioethical rulings generally do not differ from Sunni rulings in any fundamental respect (Shahraz, 2002).

In brief, Islam places no limits on the pursuit of scientific knowledge, and this applies to genetics as well. According to Hathout and Lusting, there is consensus among Islamic scholars that a governmental law referencing the alteration of God's creation does not support a prohibition on genetic experiments or modification. These scholars concluded that genetic research, development, and engineering are legally and morally permissible (Shahraz, 2002). Serour, however, argues that the fairness of genetic engineering is qualified by the concern that it would constitute an alteration of God's creation, potentially causing imbalance in the human race and the universe.

As noted above, Shia is a school of thought within Islam. Although approximately 20 percent of Iranians follow the Sunni school of thought, Shia became the dominant Iranian religion roughly one thousand years ago. In Shia Islam, aql (the faculty of reasoning and critical thinking) and urf (culture) are two additional essential sources for deriving Islamic law.

Shia scholars have formally acknowledged aql as an independent source of Islamic law and have examined it rigorously within a strong jurisprudential tradition. The role of community practices (culture) as a supplementary tool in deducing Islamic law is, in principle, undeniable. Historically, relying on aql — understood as human reasoning and judgment — as a root for deriving Islamic laws can be traced back to the earliest period of Islamic legal development (Shahraz, 2002).

Conclusion

In the developing world, the primary factors perpetuating hunger, poverty, and population growth are illiteracy and inadequate training. Appropriate effort is also required at international and national levels to expand global bioethics networks and promote interaction among associated organizations. This paper has focused on the major legal, ethical, and jurisprudential concerns related to biotechnology in Iran and has provided relevant recommendations grounded in Iranian Islamic values and customs. Resolving moral, legal, and jurisprudential concerns will help Iranian stem cell scientists to produce credible and valuable research findings and to develop novel treatments for serious illnesses.

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