- Darryl Macer, Ph.D.
Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 9 (1999), 129.

This issue of EJAIB includes a lengthy news section, which is one of the functions of EJAIB. Therefore there are less papers in this issue than normal. More papers can be expected in the next issue again.

In this issue there is a paper from Yasemin Oguz in Turkey exploring the idea of what is bioethics. We hope to receive more comments on the question of how narrativity applies to bioethics in different cultures. Following that there is a paper on relationships to animals, which I hope opens up new ground in ways to approach bioethics of animal studies.

Then there are results of a study of high school teaching of bioethics in Sinagpore, with comparisons to earlier studies we have conducted in other countries. The implications of the study are not all discussed, but the figures provide some reference point for discussion. We can see calls for bioethics in different countries, although images of bioethics can vary between them.

Coming together with this issue of EJAIB is the third flier of TRT5, to be held 20-23 November, 1999 here in Tsukuba Science City again. Please see updates on the Internet site. Also those who can stay are invited by Prof. Sakamoto to attend a meeting on 24-25th at Nihon University in Tokyo. See announcement on p.138 of this issue.

Over the summer several members of the Tsukuba eubios family were in FAO at Rome. There is a great wealth of experience hidden, with many people working on ethics but not seeing their work as ethics until probed about it. Numerous issues of ethics in food and agriculture were raised, and in the future some of these will be discussed in the pages here. There is a wealth of ethical issues and we need to be open to incorproate new ideas into the working frameworks of bioethics that we have. We also have to be practical to meet the real needs demanded by equity and justice.

Darryl Macer
Email: asianbioethics@yahoo.co.nz