sábado, 28 de junio de 2014

BioEdge: the latest news and articles about bioethics

BioEdge: the latest news and articles about bioethics



Bioedge

Michael Cook
Editor
BioEdge











Hi there,
Archduke Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated 100 years ago today in Sarajevo. Within weeks the world was at war. In another four years some ten million soldiers and seven million civilians would be dead. Wars are a great time for innovation in many areas, but not in bioethics. My impression is that the basic principle of bioethics in “the Great War” was “whatever it takes to win”.
Poison gas, for  instance, was banned by international conventions in 1899 and 1907. Yet it was used by all the belligerents. An English general put it nicely:
“It is a cowardly form of warfare which does not commend itself to me or other English soldiers. We cannot win this war unless we kill or incapacitate more of our enemies than they do of us, and if this can only be done by our copying the enemy in his choice of weapons, we must not refuse to do so.”
But perhaps we can learn something from World War I. Twenty-first Century bioethics has two main themes. One is autonomy and there’s precious little of that in the Great War. It was a time of massification and state dominance.
But the other is how to use technology without losing our humanity. In this respect, World War I is a cautionary tale. Before 1914 technology was esteemed as the path to peace and prosperity. It quickly became apparent that technology could become a death-dealing juggernaut which devoured men and spat them out. Science and scientists became tools for destruction.
I think that we need to be reminded of that today. The pre-War chemistry laboratories which produced so many useful products also produced phosgene and mustard gas. Our knowledge of cellular biology and genetics can be life-saving but also deeply inhumane. It’s good to learn from the past.
Cheers,
Bioedge
This week in BioEdge
 







by Michael Cook | Jun 28, 2014
"And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, she said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die."






by Michael Cook | Jun 28, 2014
Prisoners are being unfairly excluded from taking part in potentially beneficial clinical research, argue researchers in the JME.






by Michael Cook | Jun 27, 2014
What a fit and healthy person regards as "acceptable" might not match what a disabled person feels about life.






by Michael Cook | Jun 27, 2014
Euthanasia is once more on the front page of French newspapers with two high-profile case in the courts.






by Michael Cook | Jun 27, 2014
Review of mental ability shows fish are on par with most animals






by Xavier Symons | Jun 27, 2014
Britain's Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by campaigners to have assisted suicide pronounced a human right. The appeal was made by the family of…






by Xavier Symons | Jun 27, 2014
An EU investigation into organ trafficking in Albania is said to have found no evidence linking the Kosovo Liberation Army to forced organ harvesting.






by Xavier Symons | Jun 27, 2014
In a recent interview with the Independent Robert Winston warned of deception in the IVF market. Fertility companies, he believes, are exaggerating the effectiveness and…






by Xavier Symons | Jun 27, 2014
A new survey of North Carolina doctors has found that many are concerned about the increasing number of requests they are receiving to assess their…






by Michael Cook | Jun 25, 2014
A second Australian IVF company wil float on the stock exchange today.
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