Galina L. MIKIRTICHAN, head of Humanitarian Subjects and Biomedical Ethics Sub-department of Saint Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University, professor, Dr. Sci. (Med)
A rapid progress of medical genetics is unavoidably associated with unceasing emergence of new moral and juridical problems. Some of them, e.g. which are related to the possibility to get genetically identical copies (clones) of living or dead people, draw attention of the broadest public; the others, perhaps not less important and acute, are discussed mainly by specialists. The report considers the tasks of medical genetics nowadays, the ethical aspects of genetic techniques, and the specifics of moral problems in medical genetics practice, based on actual ethical norms and principles.