The World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST) mirrors at the international level numerous national commissions on science, technology, and ethics. In the early 1990s, the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) formally recognized that the changes wrought by science and technology raise questions that demand ethical reflection (Pompidou 2000). In 1997 it approved the creation of COMEST to institutionalize this growing awareness that ethical reflection must become an integral part of scientific research and its technological applications. COMEST and the Bioethics Programme at UNESCO comprise its Programme on the Ethics of Science and Technology, which is designed to further the mission of UNESCO to serve as the conscience of the United Nations.

In addition to advising UNESCO on its program concerning...