How scientists mold public opinion on controversial bioethical issues

By Michael Cook One of the puzzling features of bioethics debates is how quickly the public changes its mind about controversial issues. This is particularly evident in discussions about heritable human genome editing (HHGE) and Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy (MRT). If one were to ask whether scientists should be allowed to tinker with the human genome, …

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Bioethics writer warns of ‘public health imperialism’  

By Michael Cook After three innocent children were gunned down in three months in the American state of New Mexico, the Governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, announced a 30-day suspension of the right to carry firearms. “When New Mexicans are afraid to be in crowds, to take their kids to school, to leave a baseball game – when …

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Oxford bioethicist rebukes ruling against dying UK teen’s ability to choose life-supporting treatment

The teenager’s wish to continue treatment ‘is being seen as a reason to deny her dignity as a mentally capable adult. This is a lethal form of paternalism,’ says bioethicist Professor David Albert Jones, director of The Anscombe Bioethics Centre. By Frank Wright OXFORD, England— The case of ST versus the NHS Trust seeking to end her …

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How scientists mold public opinion on controversial bioethical issues

By Michael Cook One of the puzzling features of bioethics debates is how quickly the public changes its mind about controversial issues. This is particularly evident in discussions about heritable human genome editing (HHGE) and Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy (MRT). If one were to ask whether scientists should be allowed to tinker with the human genome, most …

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Who Counts? Bioethics, Biomedicine and Exploitation of Nascent Human Beings

By David Prentice, PhD Editor’s note. This appeared in the journal of the Christian Medical & Dental Association and is reposted with permission. What defines our humanity and what it means to be a human being? Put another way, who counts? Every human life has value, no matter the age or stage of development, size, …

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Bioethicists: Euthanasia Okay for ‘Unjust Social Conditions’

By Wesley J. Smith Editor’s note. Wesley J. Smith and Alex Schadenberg are teaming up to address the American and Canadian experience with euthanasia and assisted suicide at the 2023 National Right to Life Convention. For more information, go to https://nrlconvention.com/product-category/2023-registration. Once killing the sufferer becomes a societally acceptable means for ending suffering, there becomes no end to the “suffering” that justifies …

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Why Bioethics Should “Fail”

By Wesley J. Smith Julian Savulescu represents all that I find so objectionable about the mainstream bioethics movement. Rejecting the sanctity/equality of human life, utilitarian in outlook, embracing a eugenics point-of-view, the Oxford professor–what does that tell you?–would lead society in a way opposed by most of the very people bioethics claims to serve. Savulescu …

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Bioethicist protests that ‘whole body gestational donation’ is misunderstood

By Michael Cook   Bioethicists have chosen a lonely and disheartening profession. Locked away in an office, they pound out publications which only a few hundred of people – at best! – will ever read. But occasionally one of their articles escapes from the laboratory and spreads across the globe. The ensuing publicity may not add lustre …

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‘Fetal containers’: Bioethicist proposes using women in vegetative states as surrogates

By Cassy Fiano-Chesser  A bioethicist has argued for using women in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) as surrogates, calling it “whole body gestational donation.” Anna Smajdor, of the University of Olso, wrote in the journal Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics that women who are brain dead shouldn’t have their wombs going to waste, when people who want children can use them. …

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Promises to keep: medical graduates and their oaths

A common moral framework for medicine is in danger of disappearing. By Michael Cook A survey of oaths taken by medical students in the United States and Canada in 2014 and 2015 suggests that doctors are beginning their career with vague, confusing, and inconsistent notions of medical ethics. In an article in The New Bioethics, three …

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“Baby Farms” are Already Here as Scientists Move Towards Creating Babies in Artificial Wombs

By Wesley J. Smith Will artificial wombs replace natural gestation? Until very recently, that notion was a far-fetched conjuring out of futuristic novels such as “Brave New World.” But research that could make this dystopian prospect a reality is fast advancing. Scientists have already gestated premature lambs in artificial wombs and brought mouse fetuses halfway through …

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