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the Encyclopedia required a thorough revision and update. There are more than 110 new article titles in the third edition, and approximately the same number of new articles appearing under old titles. Thus, half of the third edition is entirely new, while half consists of deeply revised and updated articles from the earlier edition.The least revision was needed in the topic areas of environmental ethics, population ethics, and the history of medical ethics. The word bioethics was coined in the early 1970s by biologists in order to encourage public and professional reflection on two topics of urgency: (1) the responsibility to maintain the generative ecology of the planet, upon which life and human life depends; and (2) the future implications of rapid advances in the life sciences with regard to potential modifications of a malleable human nature. Alongside of bioethics as an intellectual movement among life scientists there emerged the field of medical ethics, which was both old and new. It was old in the sense that physicians had reflected perennially on their professional duties from within the narrow confines of the guild. It was new in that now this reflection was occurring in open dialogue with theologians and philosophers, and attentive to widening public concerns in a time of civil rights and “the twilight of authority.” Bioethics, as the tradition of the Encyclopedia defines it, developed then from these two central lineages, and includes both. The Encyclopedia integrates all aspects of healthcare and medical ethics, without losing sight of the wider context provided by the life scientists of the early 1970s, including their environmental and public health concerns. The Encyclopedia of Bioethics is unique because it has always included many voices and traditions in an effort to foster dialogue, prevent the narrowing of the field, and engage a wide international readership. This edition, like previous ones, embraces cross-cultural approaches, the full history of bioethics, comparative religious and philosophical ethics, and global perspectives. The third edition of the Encyclopedia was animated by the recognition that no other work presents bioethics in its fullness, both with regard to definition, methods, and contents. It is this fullness that makes the Encyclopedia of continuing international value in maintaining the open and expansive nature of the field.