Social Responsibility and the Scientist in Modern Western Society

PERSPECTIVES IN BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE Volume 14 · Number 3 · Spring 1971 SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND THE SCIENTIST IN MODERN WESTERN SOCIETY* ERNST BORIS CHAIN, PkD., F.R.S.Î When I received the invitation to deliver the Waley Cohen Lecture my reaction was one ofgreat pleasure mixed with a little alarm. I felt pleasure at the honour ofhaving been asked tojoin the ranks ofa number ofvery distinguished predecessors who gave this Lecture named to perpetuate the memory of a very outstanding member and leader of the Anglo-Jewish community, Sir Robert Waley Cohen, whose dynamic personality left a strong impact on this community which is felt eventoday, and with whose family I have had close ties offriendship over a period ofmany years. I was particularly glad to have an opportunity to address the Council of Christians and Jews, with whose aims to promote better understanding between the two faiths, I am very much in sympathy. On the other hand, I felt the uneasiness which I think most scientists experience when they are asked to talk to an audience ofnon-scientists on a subject which is not in the immediate sphere of their professional activities. I was not quite sure on what theme I should talk to you which could interest you and yet would not be too far-removed from my own interests. A short conversation with your General Secretary, Mr. Simpson, resolved my doubts; it took not more than a few minutes before we found ourselves talking a common language and got involved in a discussion on aspects ofscientific research, which are of interest to the scientist and non-scientist alike and which are summarised in the title ofmy lecture tonight. We are all aware ofthe great advances ofscience in the fields ofphysics, chemistry, biology and medicine, and ofthe far-reaching effects ofsome * Robert Waley Cohen Memorial Lecture, University ofLondon Senate House, February 1970. Reprinted here with permission ofCouncil of Christians andJews, London. t Head, Department of Biochemistry, Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, England. 347 ofthese advances, through their technological applications, on our daily lives, some undoubtedly most beneficial, some harmful and with threatening potentialities for the future. It is a subject of topical interest, for pertinent questions arise, and are being asked in public with increasing frequency . What is the social responsibility ofthe scientist for the effect on human society ofthe discoveries which emanate from his work, and particularly for the effect ofeventual abuses ofhis discoveries? Has he any at all? Can the scientist be held responsible for the misuses ofhis work which other people with whom he has no connection, invent later and which maybe he could not even visualise at the time when his original discovery was made? Should the scientist, ifhe does foresee that damaging effects on the human race could arise from the results ofhis work, stop working in this field and turn to something else? Should the scientist refuse on principle to participate in any research project which is consciously aimed at destroying human life? Let me first ofall state that science as long as it limits itselfto the descriptive study of the laws ofnature has no moral or ethical quality, and this applies to the physical as well as the biological sciences. No quality ofgood or evil is attached to results ofresearch aimed at determining natural constants , such as that of gravity or the velocity of light, or measuring the movements ofthe stars, describing the kinetic properties ofan enzyme, or describing the behaviour ofanimals (whatever our emotional attitude towards it may be) or studying themetabolic activities ofamicrobe, whether harmful or beneficial to mankind, or studying physiological function or pharmacological and toxic action. No quality of good or evil can be ascribed to studies aimed at the elucidation of the chemical structure of substances of whatever nature, be it the harmless sodium chloride, the curative quinine or penicillin, orhighly lethal poisons such as the botulinus toxin, (a protein produced by the anaerobic Clostridium botulinum causing a deadly form of food poisoning, which will kill susceptible animals in amounts offractions ofa microgram), be it the nucleic acids, the substances concerned with genetic transmission, or any other natural product, however important for life and reproduction...