You can now buy low calorie water. What? You think that there’s more to say? […]
Latest articles
Portugal’s Experiment with Drug Decriminalisation
In 2001, drug use was decriminalised in Portugal, meaning that the country had, in effect, the most lenient drug laws in the world. What has been the effect of this move? Martin Robbins considers the evidence. His conclusion is that the policy hasn’t been the unmitigated success that he – and the Cato institute (warning: bigger-than-the-moon 4Mb […]
DNA Retention: Stupid or Scary?
Not so long ago, Søren posted an item on this blog welcoming the ECHR’s verdict that the UK policy of storing DNA samples from all people who’d been arrested, regardless of guilt, was in contravention of Human Rights laws. A couple of days ago, the UK government published its response. It’s either remarkably sinister or remarkably […]
Contraception, Duties and Rights
Ema is not happy: The Missouri House on Tuesday [that is, 28.iv.09 – IB] voted 115-43 to approve HB 226, an amendment that [s]pecifies that no pharmacy can be required to perform, assist, recommend, refer to, or participate in any act or service resulting in an abortion and it will be immune from liability for […]
Book Review: “Distributive Justice and the New Medicine” by George P Smith II
Edward Elgar Publishing, UK and USA, 187 + 7 pp. Price: £55 (hb) Reviewed by Loane Skene, Melbourne Law School […]
Musical Swine Flu!
This does exactly what it says on the tin. Stephan Zielinski has set swine flu to music: The algorithm I used is a bit complicated, but just in case you’re curious: since the gene is expressed as a surface protein antibodies can sense, it’s considered as a string of amino acids. Each beat corresponds to […]
Obligatory Topical Swine Flu Post
The appearance of Swine Flu over the past couple of days is the sort of thing that provides ample food for thought among ethicists, particularly public health ethicists. One perennial question, for example, concerns exactly what governments ought to do to protect their populations from infection – is spending on flu vaccines a good way […]
In ur genez, clozin’ ur futurz
We all know the “open future” argument against genetic modification of humans: that it’s part of being a human that we are apparently in control of our own lives and that a parent who tried to impose a “model” on us would thereby wrong us. I’ve never been sure, in all honesty, whether this tells […]
consultation on medical profiling and online medicine: the ethics of ‘personalised’ health care in a consumer age
I thought this call for input would be of interest to some of our readers. The Nuffield Council on Bioethics is holding a public consultation on the ethical issues raised by online healthcare, telemedicine and commercial medical profiling technologies such as DNA testing and body imaging. These technologies and services are increasingly focused on the […]
Event: Medicine Under Pressure: Arts Week highlight
This looks like an interesting event at Queen Mary, University of London on the 29th of April. High-profile lawyer Phil Shiner will join a timely debate on ethics, medicine and human rights, an Arts Week event. In ‘Medicine Under Pressure: The Law and Ethics of Medicine in Conflict Situations’ a panel of distinguished legal and […]