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60Eugenics, embryo selection, and the Equal Value PrincipleClinical Ethics 1 (1): 46-51. 2006.Preimplantation genetic diagnosis and some prenatal screening programmes have been criticized for being 'eugenic'. This paper aims to analyse this criticism and to evaluate one of the main ethical arguments lying behind it. It starts with a discussion of the meaning of the term 'eugenics' and of some relevant distinctions: for example, that between objections to eugenic ends and objections to certain means of achieving them. Next, a particular argument against using preimplantation genetic diagn…Read more
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86Exploitation in International Paid Surrogacy ArrangementsJournal of Applied Philosophy 33 (2): 125-145. 2015.Many critics have suggested that international paid surrogacy is exploitative. Taking such concerns as its starting point, this article asks: how defensible is the claim that international paid surrogacy is exploitative and what could be done to make it less exploitative? In the light of the answer to, how strong is the case for prohibiting it? Exploitation could in principle be dealt with by improving surrogates' pay and conditions. However, doing so may exacerbate problems with consent. Foremo…Read more
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33Biomedical Research and the Commercial Exploitation of Human TissueGenomics, Society and Policy 1 (1): 1-14. 2005.There is widespread anxiety about the commercialisation and commodification of human tissue. The aims of this paper are: (a) to analyse some of these concerns, and (b) to see whether some of the main ethical arguments that lie behind them are sound. Part 1 looks at 'inducement arguments' against paying individuals for their tissue and concludes that these are generally quite weak. Part 2 examines some ethical objections to third parties (e.g. biotechnology companies and researchers) commercially…Read more
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17Using some “new” political ideas: Feminism and “green ideology”Res Publica 5 (1): 103-108. 1999.
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52Prenatal Screening, Reproductive Choice, and Public HealthBioethics 29 (1): 26-35. 2014.One widely held view of prenatal screening is that its foremost aim is, or should be, to enable reproductive choice; this is the Pure Choice view. The article critiques this position by comparing it with an alternative: Public Health Pluralism. It is argued that there are good reasons to prefer the latter, including the following. Public Health Pluralism does not, as is often supposed, render PNS more vulnerable to eugenics-objections. The Pure Choice view, if followed through to its logical con…Read more
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13Designer babies', instrumentalisation and the child's right to an open futureIn Nafsika Athanassoulis (ed.), Philosophical Reflections on Medical Ethics, Palgrave-macmillan. 2005.
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142"Eugenics talk" and the language of bioethicsJournal of Medical Ethics 34 (6): 467-471. 2008.In bioethical discussions of preimplantation genetic diagnosis and prenatal screening, accusations of eugenics are commonplace, as are counter-claims that talk of eugenics is misleading and unhelpful. This paper asks whether “eugenics talk”, in this context, is legitimate and useful or something to be avoided. It also looks at the extent to which this linguistic question can be answered without first answering relevant substantive moral questions. Its main conclusion is that the best and most no…Read more
Areas of Specialization
Applied Ethics |
Normative Ethics |
Areas of Interest
Applied Ethics |
Normative Ethics |