By Mila Zemyarska. During the last decade, there has been a boom of new adjunct techniques and interventions, also called IVF add-ons, developed in an attempt to boost IVF success rates. However, these have been introduced to the market and to clinical practice before their efficacy and safety could be properly assessed. Hence, while these add-ons […]
Category: Reproduction
Rogue scientist: the human CRISPR experiment
By Jeanne Snelling and Mike King Chinese researcher, He Jiankui, claims to have implanted CRISPR-cas9 gene-edited embryos into potentially six women resulting in at least one successful pregnancy (of twins). Given the unconventional and inadequate way information has been released by He, and the fact that the research has not had thorough oversight, the facts […]
Claims over human genome editing: scientific irresponsibility at its worst
By Sarah Chan This post first appeared in The Motley Coat on 26 November 2018. The announcement made today, that the world’s first genome-edited babies have been born in China, is of grave ethical concern. In evaluating this news, we should first remember that these claims have not yet been scientifically validated through peer reviewed publication […]
“Harms of Formula” Vs “Benefits of Breastfeeding” : Why we don’t “know” how to talk about the effects of different ways of feeding babies
By Fiona Woollard I’m sitting in a room filled with people who care deeply about mothers and babies. Many of them have dedicated their lives to improving support for new mothers to have the chance to feed their babies in the way they want. Someone is talking about cuts to breastfeeding support or about information provided […]
Artificial wombs: a shift in approach to neonatal intensive care and beyond
By Elizabeth Chloe Romanis What if there was no such thing as being born too premature to survive? Today babies born on the viability threshold (around 24 weeks) have little chance at life, or of a life without serious long-term health problems. Neonatal intensive care can only do so much for babies born with an undeveloped […]
Guest Post: Biological children: an innocent wish?
Article: I love my children: am I racist? On the wish to be biologically related to one’s children Author: Ezio Di Nucci, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Is it morally legitimate to want biological children? There is a general argument about the legitimacy of bringing new people into this world; but there is also a more specific […]
Guest Post: Ethical arguments for access to abortion services in the Republic of Ireland: recent developments in the public discourse.
Authors: Joan McCarthy, Katherine O’Donnell, Louise Campbell, Dolores Dooley Paper: Ethical arguments for access to abortion services in the Republic of Ireland: recent developments in the public discourse Some people argue that abortion is immoral, yet others don’t think so. Some think that abortion is immoral in general, and in the abstract, and yet judge that […]
Guest Post: Transgressing nature? Ethics and artificial gametes
Authors: Anna Smajdor, Daniela Cutas and Tuija Takala Article: Artificial gametes, the unnatural and the artefactual Increasingly, science offers new ways for human beings to design, create and control living organisms. Among other avenues of research, work towards the creation of ‘artificial’ (or, as they used to be called, ‘synthetic’) gametes has attracted considerable media attention […]
Guest Post: Lesbian Motherhood and Mitochondrial Replacement Techniques: Reproductive Freedom and Genetic Kinship
Authors Giulia Cavaliere, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, King’s College London César Palacios-González, Centre of Medical Law and Ethics, Dickson Poon School od Law, King’s College London Full Paper: Lesbian Motherhood and Mitochondrial Replacement Techniques: Reproductive Freedom and Genetic Kinship [open access] Since the UK parliamentary vote that led to their approval in February […]
Toby Young, Eugenics, IQ, and the Poor (part 2)
By Iain Brassington Having staked out the claim in my last post that even if Toby Young’s claims about intelligence and embryo selection in his essay are eugenic, that’s not the end of the moral argument, I’m now going to have a quick look at the reasons why I think his claim does fail. The roots of […]