Presently, there is no specific federal legislation governing articular cartilage tissue engineering (ACTE) experimentation practices in Malaysia. However, there are related regulations and guidelines provided by government agencies to oversee and guide such practices. The rules and regulations provided in the documents have the essential aim of safeguarding public health through ensuring that non-clinical studies reach a certain quality, efficient and safe for human use. There are themes identified when scrutinising relevant documents which includes, the need for authorised personnel and the establishment of facilities in conducting such experiments, the aspect of cell-scaffold construct development, the use of human materials, the aspect of biosafety, animal care and use during the experiments, and considerations on the impact on the environment. The individual laboratory or facility shall adopt and adapt these standards as deemed appropriate by the ACTE researchers to ensure that non-clinical studies are conducted in a proper and ethical manner.

This study examines, classifies and discusses the ethical issues of tissue engineering published in selected online databases from the year 2015 to 2020. In overview, the published literature could be classified according to the type of ethical issues discussed, the phase in development in which the ethical issues are prominently existing and into the type of journal they are published. It proceeds with in-depth discussions on selected relevant issues that deemed to be needing further attention and clarification. It will give the readers a broad mapping of ethical issues currently existing and discussed in the context of tissue engineering and highlights the conventional responses on the issues.