Ethical dilemmas in modern engineering

The editors of the trade journal Chemical Engineering recently conducted a reader survey on engineering ethics.¹ They presented a set of nine hypothetical cases illustrating some ethical dilemmas that arise in the practice of engineering. These cases included situations in which an engineer became aware of illegal dumping of chemical waste by his employer. or was asked to “fudge” data in performance tests for a new product. The cases were accompanied by a questionnaire in which readers were asked to indicate an appropriate course of action for an “ethical” engineer to lake in each case.