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The role of Unesco's newly created Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST) is to “blow the whistle”, according to its director-general, Vidgís Finnbogadóttir, speaking after the close of its first meeting in Oslo last month.

A main theme at the meeting was the ethics of the information society. Finnbogadóttir, a former president of Iceland, says it was apparent that very little work had been done in this area, even though “the ethical issues are very clear”.

“A greater part of the world does not have access [to information technology], and this alienates them and widens the gap between those who have knowledge and those who do not,” she says. “The expense of technology deprives many people — this is unethical.”

Finnbogadóttir says that COMEST's mission is to identify problems and find a voice: “We want to define the most burning issues and get the attention of decision-makers.”

One key topic raised at the meeting was the issue of irreversible action in the environment, such as the depletion of resources or the destruction of a landscape. Citing a case in Norway in which the building of a hydropower station had created local flooding, Finnbogadóttir said that COMEST would bring such poor ethical decisions to the attention of ordinary citizens.

She emphasizes that problems will be continuing, and that COMEST will give its opinion regularly. It will report on its mission and activities to the World Conference on Science in Budapest.

Full text: http://helix.nature.com/wcs/a30.html