Ethical Issues In The Access And Benefit-Sharing Of Animal And Plant Biobank

The animal and plant biobank is an infrastructure that can be used to store animal and plant samples.It plays an important role in the development of biotechnology.It has important application value in protecting biodiversity,promoting medical research and supporting industrial or agricultural development.In recent years,the development of animal and plant biobank is very rapid.Some large animal and plant biobanks have been established one after another,for example,the ‘Millennium Seed Bank' in the UK and the‘China National GeneBank' in China.However,the current definition of animal and plant biobank is not clear enough.This needs to be further refined by us.In addition,with the gradual enrichment of samples collected by animal and plant biobank,there will be more and more companies or research institutions wishing to obtain samples for research.This will involve the issue of access and benefit-sharing.According to international treaties such as the Convention on Biological Diversity,prior informed consent needs to be obtained and a benefit-sharing agreement signed before obtaining a sample.In order to safeguard their own interests,some developing countries have also formulated relevant laws and regulations.However,laws and regulations that deal specifically with the issue of the access and benefit-sharing of animal and plant biobank are still lacking.In order to promote the formulation of relevant laws and regulations,the author attempts to discuss the ethical issues of the access and benefit-sharing of animal and plant biobank from the perspective of moderate anthropocentrism..The ethical issues discussed in this paper mainly include the following:(1)welfare issues of accessing animal samples;(2)animal rights issues of animal sample benefit-sharing;(3)environmental ethical issues of accessing plant samples;(4)environmental justice issues of plant sample benefit-sharing.