​Model of
Biology
Ethical Issues
Ethical issues for research in microbial biology include the requirement for the full disclosure over the nature used in the experiements, and to be aware of the potentical risks of performing such experiements. Because of such little knowledge humans have about the human microbiome, the potential risks of experiements could not be accurately predicted, thus endangering enviromental sites and organisms on the planet. Therefore, general consent should be permitted for particapants in metagenomic studies, in order to maintain enviromental resources and life.
Social/Legal Issues
Social issues include humans "playing God," in which they are controlling the way that natural organisms work, and the traits that they are unnaurally given. Another important social issue is privacy. Privacy is very important to particpants researching genetics. Privacy can be protected be "de-identifying" genomic data prior to sharing them to public databases. There is much debate over whether or not scientists should link microbial DNA sequence data with human DNA and clinical data.
