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32Paternalism and Utilitarianism in Research with Human ParticipantsHealth Care Analysis (1): 1-13. 2012.In this article I defend a rule utilitarian approach to paternalistic policies in research with human participants. Some rules that restrict individual autonomy can be justified on the grounds that they help to maximize the overall balance of benefits over risks in research. The consequences that should be considered when formulating policy include not only likely impacts on research participants, but also impacts on investigators, institutions, sponsors, and the scientific community. The public…Read more
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Are the New EPA Regulations Concerning Intentional Exposure Studies Involving Children Overprotective?IRB: Ethics & Human Research 29 (5). 2007.The Environmental Protection Agency has adopted new regulations that prevent the agency from conducting or funding intentional exposure research involving children, pregnant women, or fetuses. I argue that these regulations overprotect children, and that the EPA should revise them to conform with Subpart D of the Department Health and Human Services’ regulations governing research with humans
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37Stakes and Kidneys: Why Markets in Human Body Parts are Morally ImperativeJournal of Moral Philosophy 5 (1): 169-170. 2008.
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52Do scientific aims justify methodological rules?Erkenntnis 38 (2). 1993.According to a popular view of scientific methodology, scientific methods are prescriptive rules (methodological rules) which are justified in so far as they realize or promote the aims of science. This paper considers several different interpretations of the phrase aims of science, arguing that none of these interpretations allow aims to provide a satisfactory justification of methodological rules.
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41Neuroethics, national security and secrecyAmerican Journal of Bioethics 7 (5). 2007.This Article does not have an abstract
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26Research Participation and Financial InducementsAmerican Journal of Bioethics 1 (2): 54-56. 2001.
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37The Price of Precaution and the Ethics of RiskStudies in Ethics, Law, and Technology 7 (1). 2013.
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20J. Rasko, G. O’Sullivan, and R. Ankeny, eds. The Ethics of Inheritable Genetic Modification: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, 315 pp. + xxxv. ISBN 0-521-52973-5 (review)Journal of Value Inquiry 46 (3): 383-385. 2012.
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62The undertreatment of pain: Scientific, clinical, cultural, and philosophical factorsMedicine, Health Care and Philosophy 4 (3): 277-288. 2001.This essay provides an explanation and interpretation of the undertreatment of pain by discussing some of the scientific, clinical, cultural, and philosophical aspects of this problem. One reason why pain continues to be a problem for medicine is that pain does not conform to the scientific approach to health and disease, a philosophy adopted by most health care professionals. Pain does not fit this philosophical perspective because (1) pain is subjective, not objective; (2) the causal basis of …Read more
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32Review of Rethinking Informed Consent in Bioethics (review)Studies in Ethics, Law, and Technology 3 (2). 2009.
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48Trans Fat Bans and Human FreedomAmerican Journal of Bioethics 10 (3): 27-32. 2010.A growing body of evidence has linked consumption of trans fatty acids to cardiovascular disease. To promote public health, numerous state and local governments in the United States have banned the use of artificial trans fats in restaurant foods, and additional bans may follow. Although these policies may have a positive impact on human health, they open the door to excessive government control over food, which could restrict dietary choices, interfere with cultural, ethnic, and religious tradi…Read more
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92How-possibly explanations in biologyActa Biotheoretica 39 (2): 141-149. 1991.Biologists in many different fields of research give how-possibly explanations of the phenomena they study. Although such explanations lack empirical support, and might be regarded by some as unscientific, they play an important heuristic role in biology by helping biologists develop theories and concepts and suggesting new areas of research. How-possibly explanations serve as a useful framework for conducting research in the absence of adequate empiri cal data, and they can even become how-actu…Read more
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66Developing Drugs for the Developing World: An Economic, Legal, Moral, and Political DilemmaDeveloping World Bioethics 1 (1): 11-32. 2001.This paper discusses the economic, legal, moral, and political difficulties in developing drugs for the developing world. It argues that large, global pharmaceutical companies have social responsibilities to the developing world, and that they may exercise these responsibilities by investing in research and development related to diseases that affect developing nations, offering discounts on drug prices, and initiating drug giveaways. However, these social responsibilities are not absolute requi…Read more
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19Responsible Conduct in Nanomedicine Research: Environmental Concerns Beyond the Common RuleJournal of Law, Medicine and Ethics 40 (4): 848-855. 2012.Nanomedicine research raises ethical concerns beyond those covered by the Common Rule. Investigators and research institutions should comply with environmental and occupational health laws protect research staff and the environment. Though the IRB should concentrate on risks to human research participants, it should also consider risks to identifiable third parties. Investigators should also address risks to identifiable third parties. Professional and governmental organizations should deal with…Read more
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34Closing loopholes in the federal research regulations: Some practical problemsAmerican Journal of Bioethics 8 (11). 2008.No abstract
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104Financial interests and research biasPerspectives on Science 8 (3): 255-285. 2000.: In the last two decades, scientists, government officials, and science policy experts have expressed concerns about the increasing role of financial interests in research. Many believe that these interests are undermining research by causing bias and error, suppression of results, and even outright fraud. This paper seeks to shed some light on this view by (1) explicating the concept research bias, (2) describing some ways that financial interests can cause research biases, and (3) discussing …Read more
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26Patents on Human-Animal Chimeras and Threats to Human DignityAmerican Journal of Bioethics 3 (3): 35-36. 2003.
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28Environmental health research on hazards in the home and the duty to warnBioethics 22 (4). 2008.When environmental health researchers study hazards in the home, they often discover information that may be relevant to protecting the health and safety of the research subjects and occupants. This article describes the ethical and legal basis for a duty to warn research subjects and occupants about hazards in the home and explores the extent of this duty. Investigators should inform research subjects and occupants about the results of tests conducted as part of the research protocol only if th…Read more
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36The effectiveness of the erratum in avoiding error propagation in physicsScience and Engineering Ethics 1 (3): 231-240. 1995.The propagation of errors in physics research is studied, with particular attention being paid to the effectiveness of the erratum in avoiding error propagation. We study the citation history of 17 physics papers which have significant errata associated with them. It would appear that the existence of an erratum does not significantly decrease the frequency with which a paper is cited and in most cases the erratum isnot cited along with the original paper. The authors comment on implications for…Read more
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64Openness versus Secrecy in Scientific ResearchEpisteme 2 (3): 135-147. 2006.Openness is one of the most important principles in scientifi c inquiry, but there are many good reasons for maintaining secrecy in research, ranging from the desire to protect priority, credit, and intellectual property, to the need to safeguard the privacy of research participants or minimize threats to national or international security. This article examines the clash between openness and secrecy in science in light of some recent developments in information technology, business, and politic…Read more
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41Are methodological rules hypothetical imperatives?Philosophy of Science 59 (3): 498-507. 1992.This discussion adjudicates a dispute between Larry Laudan and Gerald Doppelt over the nature of methodological rules. Laudan holds that all methodological rules are hypothetical imperatives, while Doppelt argues that a subset of those rules, basic methodological standards, are not hypothetical imperatives. I argue that neither writer offers a satisfactory account of methodological rules and that their reliance on the hypothetical/nonhypothetical distinction does not advance our understanding of…Read more
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56Response to Open Peer Commentaries on “Trans Fat Bans and Human Freedom”American Journal of Bioethics 10 (3): 4-5. 2010.A growing body of evidence has linked consumption of trans fatty acids to cardiovascular disease. To promote public health, numerous state and local governments in the United States have banned the use of artificial trans fats in restaurant foods, and additional bans may follow. Although these policies may have a positive impact on human health, they open the door to excessive government control over food, which could restrict dietary choices, interfere with cultural, ethnic, and religious tradi…Read more
Areas of Specialization
Applied Ethics |
Philosophy of Biology |
General Philosophy of Science |