Bioethics is a recent phenomenon. The term itself was used for the first time in 1970 in the United States (Potter 1970). For some years, it was believed that the term had been coined by Dr. Van Potter, researcher at the Center for Cancer Research in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin. New studies suggest that in the same period André Hellegers, another doctor, used the term in his discussions with the Kennedy family regarding the establishment of a center for biomedical ethics; discussions that eventuated in Hellegers' founding of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics (Reich 1995). However, regardless of who created and popularized the term, it has not been in use for more than 30 years.