By Ilaria Galasso and Susi Geiger. Medical ethics has long centered around the question of how to balance the public or common good with individual rights. Different approaches to ethics would prioritize different values in the context of medical research participation. Well-established moral principles provide solid arguments both for an obligation to participate in medical […]
Category: Genetics
When and why does a genetic variation become a result?
By Rachel Horton, William Macken, Robert Pitceathly and Anneke Lucassen. We’ve each got four to five million ways in which our DNA differs from the ‘standard’ or ‘reference’ genetic code. When our genome is looked at in a test, all these differences are logged. Most won’t affect our health at all, they’re just natural genetic […]
Should we routinely reinterpret genomic results?
By Gabriel Watts and Ainsley J. Newson. Data obtained from genomic sequencing has an interesting quality. Unlike most other kinds of health results, the stored information remains accurate over time, because it reflects a largely stable property of our bodies: our DNA. Of course, during this time, sequencing methods themselves are likely to have advanced […]
Developing a practical resource to improve the ethical standing of gene therapy trials
By Rosie Munday, Hugh Davies and Stephanie Jones with Oxford “A” Health Research Authority Research Ethics Committee Oxford “A” NHS REC is one of the four UK Research Ethics Committees flagged to review gene therapy proposals. Following the philosopher Mary Warnock’s sage advice “I do not believe you can make moral judgements unless, as far […]
Heritable human genome editing: Who decides? Science or society?
By Françoise Baylis Many describe the move from bench to bedside (from basic science to therapeutic or preventive applications) as a sprint – a short quick race. Others suggest that the race (such as it is) is more like hurdles given the many obstacles that must be overcome. Still others prefer to think of the […]
Commercial DNA databases and criminal investigations: Why the customer should not be king
By Nina de Groot In a colorful envelop, tens of millions of people around the world have sent their cheek swabs to a commercial company with the same colors on its facade. By taking a DNA test, they hope to find out about long-lost relatives, their genetic susceptibility for breast cancer, athletic performance capabilities, or […]
Expanding insurance coverage for in vitro fertilization with pre-implantation genetic testing
By Madison K. Kilbride When prospective parents learn that they’re at risk of passing a genetic condition to their future children, they’re often very concerned. Currently, there are two ways to ensure that one’s biological children do not inherit a hereditary condition. The first is to conceive naturally, use prenatal diagnosis to test the fetus […]
Is the “serious” factor in germline modification really relevant? A response to Kleiderman, Ravitsky and Knoppers
By Iñigo de Miguel Beriain Is the “serious” factor in germline modification relevant? This seems a relevant question in the germline gene editing debate. Of course, at first glance, one tends to choose an affirmative answer immediately. It seems common sense to think that sophisticated technology should be used only when we are faced with […]
How should we treat beings of uncertain moral status?
By Julian Koplin and Dominic Wilkinson Advances in stem cell science are making it possible to create new kinds of living beings. Using a technique known as interspecies blastocyst complementation, it may soon be possible to grow human organs inside of human-animal chimeras. Most of the tissues of these chimeric animals would be composed of […]
‘Was this on the consent form?’ Can you really consent in a one-off conversation to interventions with uncertain and evolving consequences?
By Rachel Horton, Benjamin Bell, Angela Fenwick, Anneke Lucassen A child conceived with a donated egg has multiple health problems but no unifying diagnosis. Given that testing of biological parents may help make a genetic diagnosis in a child, is it OK to contact the child’s anonymous egg donor to ask if they would provide […]