- Ann E. Weiss Rapid advances in medical science have fuelled the question of bioethics. However, as science takes leaps and bounds towards its goals, ethics are often just learning how to crawl. In fact, it has even suffered major backslides in some cases. Genetic engineering "raises serious ethical questions about the right of human beings to alter life on the planet". Changing the basic physical traits of an organism can lead to an unprecedented threat to life on the planet".
Gene therapy has become an exciting and controversial issue on the scientific and medical horizon. Science offers new technologies that, in the future, will be able to treat and cure common genetically passed diseases. However, as it is an extremely broad subject, some time must be dedicated to its interpretation and explanation. First, a general definition of gene therapy is required. Genethics, the Clash between the New Genetics and Human Values, by David T. Suzuki and Peter Knudtson, defines gene therapy as "the medical replacement or repair of defective or faulty genes in living human cells."
(Hurlbut, 2006) This poses a significant ethical dilemma, as ES cells are sourced from pre-implantation embryos leftover from In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF). The destruction of embryos is seen by many as an abuse of human life, an exploitation of those that are living, but cannot decide their own fate. (Masters, 2005) Before ES cell research is to make a positive impact on modern medicine and the global scientific community, this ethical predicament must first be considered. Embryonic stem cell research will allow for an emerging era of medicine, where researches will be capable of providing a cure for many of todays degene... ... middle of paper ... ...velopment, Monash University, Australia Fuchs, E 2008, Stem Cells: Biology, Ethics and Potential for Medicine, L'annuarie du College de France, France Denker, H 2006, Potentiality of Embryonic Stem Cells: An Ethical Problem Even With Alternative Stem Cell Sources, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany Scott, C 2008, Stem Cells: new frontiers of ethics, law and policy, Stanford University, United States of America Healey, J 2007, Cloning & Stem Cell Research, Volume 265 edn, The Spinney Press, Sydney, Australia Morgan, S 2006, From Microscopes to Stem Cell Research: discovering regenerative medicine, White-Thomson Publishing, Oxford, United Kingdom Dowswell, P 2000, Genetics: the impact on our lives, Hodder & Wayland, London, United Kingdom Maters, C 2005, DNA and your body: what you need to know about biotechnology, UNSW Press, Sydney, Australia
Gestational surrogacy, especially when it involves commercial surrogates, challenges the status quo in the ethical theory of reproduction, because with this technology the process of producing a child can no longer remain a private matter. Now a public contract exists between two parties, the couple and the surrogate ... ... middle of paper ... ...potlights surrogate motherhood." June 20, 2000. sponsored by Spotlight Health. back [7] Stock, G., and Campbell, J.. "Engineering the Human Germline: an Exploration of the Science and Ethics of Altering the Genes We Pass to Our Children, New York; Oxford University Press, 2000. back [9] Shanley, M.L, Surrogate Mothering and Women's Freedom: A Critique of Contracts for Human Reproduction, (Politics and the Human Body) editors-Elshtain, J.B, and Cloyd J.T1995, Vanderbitt University Press, Tennessee back [10] "Interactive Population Center UNFPA" November 15, 2001 back [11] Raymonds, Janice G.. "Reproduction, population, technology and rights." Women in Action Journal.
Genophilosophy ABSTRACT: Contemporary progress in life sciences, particularly in genetic engineering, is changing our concept of "human being" and a whole series of other philosophical and common notions. The conventional idea of "subject" will no longer be the final reference for philosophical thinking, since even the subject qua biological or psychological structure will enjoy a high degree of unpredictability. The results of gene technology require reinterpreting such concepts as reproduction, individuality, history, freedom and subjectivity. This paper focuses on the question of freedom, where freedom means the capacity to deliberate and choose between different alternatives of action. We hold that the issue of freedom is relevant for genetics.
There are many moral and ethical decisions that need to be considered before gene therapy can be widely accepted. Do we have the right to change a person’s genetics, especially before they are born? Do we know enough to confidently insert or delete genes without detrimental consequences down the road? If we have the ability to help people who have disabilities or diseases, is it ethical to withhold and not treat the patient? I believe human gene therapy is a good and useful tool for medicine and needs to be developed because it posses the ability to help and cure people from ailments that degrade their quality of life.
Lastly, it will be shown how "weighing and balancing" and "specification" are integral components in this model and were also practiced by Mill and Kant in their moral systems. Introduction This treatise is a contribution towards the understanding of why humankind cannot agree on the foundation of morality and why moral pluralism is the logical constitution of moral reality. The synergistic-reflective-equilibrium model is the model that will describe how persons can make moral decisions as pluralistic agents. If this model is correct, then it will not be a new discovery, rather, it will be a new description of how pluralistic agents do in fact make moral decisions. This synergistic-reflective-equilibrium description should then be useful not only in giving a fuller understanding of how moral decisions ought to be made, but also how moral philosophy can be united into a pluralistic collective whole.
Ethics committee of the American Society for medicine. Preconception gender selection for nonmedical reasons. (May 5, 2001) Promoting Ethical Ultrasound Use in India An Emerging Economy Case Study from GE (January 2009) Hesketh, Therese. Gendercide: The worldwide war on baby girls. (March 4, 2010) Lemoine, Kristi.
In the twenty-first century, the world perceived women with fairness and women began receiving equal opportunities, but one right the government is stripping from women: the choice of using birth control and aborting pregnancy. Society frowns upon aborting a fetus in the womb, but society fails to realize the circumstantial standing life places each woman in and should accept the decision a woman decides for her future whether the choice includes the use of birth control or aborting her pregnancy. The accessibility of birth control pills, the Roe v. Wade case, and the personal stories of women show that a woman knows the betterment for herself and unborn child and the government should not have a say in the a woman’s reproductive rights. Many women in the past did not gain the right to make choice about their sexuality, but in the 1950s, a pill to prevent pregnancy became reality (Bringle, 61). Birth control pills are a preventive method to avoid unintended pregnancy.
This definition of Justice is vague and will be discussed further. One must take into account that the issue of justice also has other elements drawn into it: i.e. morality and justice. This illustrates that the law has been attributed with many objectives. These objectives are culminated from theoretical perspectives such as Positivism v Natural Law, Utilitarianism, Marx and Rawls.