Ethics of research with special Emphasis on Plant Breeding

A member of CGIAR consortium www.iita.org
Ethics of Research with Special Emphasis on
Plant Breeding
Alfred Dixon
IITA, Nigeria
A Presentation at the AGRA-IITA Training Workshop for Increasing the Capacity of Research
Technicians in Plant Breeding.
July 27 to August 14, 2015, IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria.

Presentation Outline
1. Plant Breeding.
2. Research Ethics and Shared Values in Scientific Research.
3. Elements of Ethics in Plant Breeding Research.
4. Protecting the Creator or Inventor [Intellectual Property (IP) also
known as Intellectual Property (IPR)].
5. Plant Breeders' Rights (PBR), also known as Plant Variety Rights
(PVR).
6. Farmers’ Rights.
7. Summary of Ethical Concerns in Breeding Research.

Plant Breeding
• Art and science of changing the traits of plants in order to produce desired
characteristics.
• Art: Selection designed without the understanding of the principle of
inheritance. Therefore during primitive time plant breeding was largely an art
and very less science was involved.
• Scientific: measurements of the relevant characters are the standards for
selection, and because genetical principles are the guide in calculating the
number of plants required, and in deciding the type of breeding.
• Accomplished now through many different techniques ranging from simply
selecting plants with desirable characteristics for propagation, to more complex
molecular techniques.
• Ensures food and nutritional security by developing new varieties: higher-yielding,
resistant to pests and diseases, drought-resistant, end-user’s desirable or
regionally adapted to different environments and growing conditions.

Research Ethics
• Set of moral principles that govern the behavior of a group or individual
in research.
Shared Values in Scientific Research
• HONESTY: convey information truthfully and honoring commitments.
• ACCURACY: report findings precisely and take care to avoid errors.
• EFFICIENCY: use resources wisely and avoid waste.
• OBJECTIVITY: let the facts speak for themselves and avoid improper bias.

Elements of Ethics in Plant Breeding Research
Responsible Conduct of Research
• Practice of scientific investigation with integrity.
• Involves the awareness and application of established professional norms and
ethical principles in the performance of all activities related to scientific research.
Research Integrity
• Use of honest and verifiable methods in proposing, performing, and evaluating
research.
• Reporting research results with particular attention to adherence to rules,
regulations, guidelines, and following commonly accepted professional codes or
norms.

Research Safety in Field and Laboratories
• Adhere to field and laboratory guidelines, procedures, and standards.
• Practice safe science by promoting a culture of safety in Research.

Research Misconduct
• Fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, or deception in proposing, carrying out, or
reporting results of research, and deliberate, dangerous or negligent deviations
from accepted practice in carrying out research.
• All researchers are expected to be committed to ethical principles and
professional standards.
• Not upholding such standards, either intentionally or through lack of knowledge,
damages the scientific process and may harm research participants,
colleagues, the institutions and society as a whole.

Research Data Management
• Tools and resources to help you manage your data day-to-day and at
the project planning stage.
• General guidance on sharing data.
Conflicts of Interest
• May be financial or non-financial or both.
• All are required to recognize and disclose activities that might give rise to
conflicts of interest or the perception of conflicts and to ensure that such
conflicts are seen to be properly managed or avoided.

Collaborative Research
• Researchers frequently collaborate with colleagues both internally and externally.
• Inevitably, such collaborations may present challenges arising from complex roles
and relationships, divergent interests, dissimilar management styles, or differing
disciplinary and cultural interpretations and expectations.
• Clear communication is essential to effective collaborations.

Issues to discuss at an early stage
• Research roles and responsibilities (e.g. goals of the project, the role each partner will play,
how changes in the research design will be made, etc.).
• Resource-sharing.
• Disclosure of conflicts of interest.
• How research data will be collected, stored and shared.
• Authorship, including the process and criteria by which authorship and credit will be assigned.
• Financial management.
• How intellectual property rights and ownership issues will be addressed.
• Training and supervision.
• Compliance with all funder and regulatory matters relevant to the project.
• Estimating an initial time frame for the collaboration.

Computer ethics
• Set of moral principles that regulate the use of computers.
• Some common issues of computer ethics include intellectual property
rights (such as copyrighted electronic content), privacy concerns, and
how computers affect society.
• E.g. while it is easy to duplicate copyrighted electronic (or digital)
content, computer ethics would suggest that it is wrong to do so
without the author's approval.
• While it may be possible to access someone's personal information on
a computer system, computer ethics would advise that such an action
is unethical.

Ten Commandments of Computer Ethics
1. Thou shalt not use a computer to harm other people.
2. Thou shalt not interfere with other people's computer work.
3. Thou shalt not snoop around in other people's computer files.
4. Thou shalt not use a computer to steal.
5. Thou shalt not use a computer to bear false witness.
6. Thou shalt not copy or use proprietary software for which you have not paid.

7. Thou shalt not use other people's computer resources without
authorization or proper compensation.
8. Thou shalt not appropriate other people's intellectual output.
9. Thou shalt think about the social consequences of the program you are
writing or the system you are designing.
10. Thou shalt always use A computer in ways that insure consideration and
respect for your fellow humans.
____________________________________________________________
Computer Ethics Institute, 11 Dupont Circle, NW Suite 900 , Washington, Dc 20036, Tel. (202) 939-3707, Fax (202)
797-7806.

Publication
• Research (particularly publicly funded research) is to promote the
advancement and dissemination of knowledge, publication and
presentations of results to the specialist research and wider community is
recognised a fundamental part of the research process.
• An integral and essential component of research.

Authorship and other publication issues
• Criteria for authorship.
• Order of authors.
• Self citations.
• Duplicate publication.
• Accessibility of publications.
• Early release of information about to be published.

Protecting the Creator or Inventor
Intellectual Property (IP) also known as Intellectual Property (IPR)
• Consists of principles that a society observes to ensure that an inventor is
protected from unfair use of his or her invention by others.
• Results and outcomes of research.
• There may be commercial value in IP, which may be realized via various routes.
• IPR: Protect the breeder from abuse of their inventions and provide incentive for
research and development of new cultivars.

• Variety of legal provisions are made to protect against improper use of another’s
original ideas and creations.
• Most common of such provisions are:
• Copyrights.
• Confidential information.
• Breeders’ rights.
• Trademarks.
• Patents.

Plant Breeders' Rights (PBR), also known as Plant Variety Rights (PVR)
• Rights granted to the breeder of a new variety of plant that give the breeder
exclusive control over the propagating material (including seed, cuttings,
divisions, tissue culture) and harvested material (cut flowers, fruit, foliage) of a
new variety for a number of years.
• The breeder can choose to become the exclusive marketer of the variety, or to
license the variety to others.
• Variety must be new, distinct, uniform and stable.

• New: if it has not been commercialized for more than one year in the country
of protection.
• Distinct: if it differs from all other known varieties by one or more important
botanical characteristics, such as height, maturity, color, etc.
•
• Uniform: if the plant characteristics are consistent from plant to plant within
the variety.
• Stable: if the plant characteristics are genetically fixed and therefore remain
the same from generation to generation, or after a cycle of reproduction in the
case of hybrid varieties.

• Exclusive rights are granted for a specified period (typically 20/25 years (or
25/30 years, for trees and vines).
• Annual renewal fees are required to maintain the rights.
• Overlap between such rights. Patents and plant breeders' rights were
overlapping and not mutually exclusive.
• Exemptions from infringement of plant breeders' rights, such as the saved
seed exemption, do not create corresponding exemptions from infringement of
the patents covering the same plants.
• Acts that infringe the plant breeders' rights, such as exportation of the variety,
would not necessarily infringe a patent on the variety, which only allows the
patent owner to prohibit making, using or selling the patented invention.

Patent
• An exclusive right granted for an invention of a product or process that provides a
novel way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a problem.
• Plant breeders protect their inventions by seeking patents.
• The right to patent an invention is one of the most widely applicable distinct rights
provided by intellectual property.
• Promote the progress of science and the useful arts.
• Patents may be classified into three basic types: utility, design, and plant and
duration of each of these patents is 20 years.
• Patents can be national and international

Farmers' Rights
• Rights arising from the past, present and future contribution of farmers in
conserving, improving and making available plant genetic resources,
particularly those in the centers of origin/diversity.
• To ensure full benefits to farmers and support the continuation of their
contributions (Convention on biological diversity and the international treaty
on plant genetic resources).

Summary of Ethical Concerns in Breeding Research
• Plagiarism.
• Misuse of privileged information.
• Correction of errors.
• Data
• Integrity of data.
• Use and misuse of data.
• Ownership of and access to data.
• Storage and retention of data.
• Interference: withholding of data, intentional removal of, interference with, or
damage to any research related property, including instruments and other
equipment, is improper.
• Reporting suspected misconduct.
• Obligation to report.

• Research involving recombinant DNA (rDNA): approval by the institutional
biosafety committee.
• Special obligations in human subject research: institutional and ethical
clearance committee.
• Laboratory animals in research: institutional animal care and use committee.
• Conflict of interest: compromise the integrity of research or even lead to
research misconduct.

Responsibilities of a research investigator: responsibility for conduct of the
research and ultimate responsibility for the scientific integrity of the whole
research project.
Responsibilities to funding agencies: same integrity that pertains to
manuscripts submitted for publication pertains to grant applications and
proposals.
Curriculum Vitae: A biographical profile for a grant proposal or a curriculum
vitae used in an application for a fellowship or any other position must follow
the same standards of accuracy as a research publication.
Suggested Reading
Acquaah, G. 2007. Principles of Plant Genetics and Breeding. Blackwell
Publishing. 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA. 569 pp.

… Merci Beaucoup
…Thank You

Ethics of research with special Emphasis on Plant Breeding

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