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28Examining the Social Benefits Principle in Research with Human ParticipantsHealth Care Analysis 26 (1): 66-80. 2018.The idea that research with human participants should benefit society has become firmly entrenched in various regulations, policies, and guidelines, but there has been little in-depth analysis of this ethical principle in the bioethics literature. In this paper, I distinguish between strong and weak versions and the social benefits principle and examine six arguments for it. I argue that while it is always ethically desirable for research with human subjects to offer important benefits to societ…Read more
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6Punishing Medical Experts for Unethical TestimonyJournal of Philosophy, Science and Law 4 45-71. 2004.
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38Bioethics and Climate Change: A Response to Macpherson and VallesBioethics 30 (8): 649-652. 2016.Two articles published in Bioethics recently have explored the ways that bioethics can contribute to the climate change debate. Cheryl Cox Macpherson argues that bioethicists can play an important role in the climate change debate by helping the public to better understand the values at stake and the trade-offs that must be made in individual and social choices, and Sean Valles claims that bioethicists can contribute to the debate by framing the issues in terms of the public health impacts of cl…Read more
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22Social epistemology and the ethics of researchStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 27 (4): 565-586. 1996.
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46Waiving legal rights in researchJournal of Medical Ethics 40 (7): 475-478. 2014.The US federal research regulations prohibit informed consent, whether written or oral, from including provisions in which human subjects waive or appear to waive legal rights. We argue that policies that prevent human subjects from waiving legal rights in research can be ethically justified under the rationale of group, soft paternalism. These policies protect competent adults from making adverse decisions about health and legal matters that they may not understand fully. However, this rational…Read more
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49Of maize and men: Reproductive control and the threat to genetic diversityJournal of Medicine and Philosophy 25 (4). 2000.The genetic diversity argument (GDA) is one of the most commonly voiced objections to advances in reproductive and genetic technologies. According to the argument, scientific and technological developments in the realm of genetics and human reproduction will lead to lower genetic diversity, which will threaten the health and survivability of the human population. This discussion explicates and analyzes the GDA and challenges its empirical assumptions. It also discusses the possible significance …Read more
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11Adaptationist ExplanationsStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 20 (2): 193. 1989.
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51Difficulties with regulating sex selectionAmerican Journal of Bioethics 1 (1). 2001.This Article does not have an abstract
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57The rebirth of rational morphologyActa Biotheoretica 42 (1): 1-14. 1994.This paper examines a new challenge to neo-Darwinism, a movement known as process structuralism. The process structuralist critique of neo-Darwinism holds 1) that there are general laws in biology and that biologists should search for these laws; 2) that there are general forms of morphology and development and that biologists should attempt to uncover these forms; 3) that organisms are unified wholes that cannot be understood without adopting a holistic perspective; and 4) that no special, caus…Read more
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85Limits on risks for healthy volunteers in biomedical researchTheoretical Medicine and Bioethics 33 (2): 137-149. 2012.Healthy volunteers in biomedical research often face significant risks in studies that offer them no medical benefits. The U.S. federal research regulations and laws adopted by other countries place no limits on the risks that these participants face. In this essay, I argue that there should be some limits on the risks for biomedical research involving healthy volunteers. Limits on risk are necessary to protect human participants, institutions, and the scientific community from harm. With the ex…Read more
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59Protection of human subjects and scientific progress: Can the two be reconciled?Hastings Center Report 36 (1): 4-9. 2006.
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21Review of Gene Transfer and the Ethics of First-in-Human Research (review)Studies in Ethics, Law, and Technology 5 (1). 2011.
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27Direct-to-Consumer Genomics, Social Networking, and ConfidentialityAmerican Journal of Bioethics 9 (6-7): 45-46. 2009.No abstract
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47Human Health and the Environment: In Harmony or in Conflict? (review)Health Care Analysis 17 (3): 261-276. 2009.Health policy frameworks usually construe environmental protection and human health as harmonious values. Policies that protect the environment, such as pollution control and pesticide regulation, also benefit human health. In recent years, however, it has become apparent that promoting human health sometimes undermines environmental protection. Some actions, policies, or technologies that reduce human morbidity, mortality, and disease can have detrimental effects on the environment. Since human…Read more
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55Fair Drug Prices and the Patent SystemHealth Care Analysis 12 (2): 91-115. 2004.This paper uses John Rawls' theory of justice to defend the patent system against charges that it has an unfair effect on access to medications, from the perspective of national and international justice. The paper argues that the patent system is fair in a national context because it respects intellectual property rights and it benefits the least advantaged members of society by providing incentives for inventors, investors, and entrepreneurs. The paper also argues that the patent system is fai…Read more
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35Research ethics consultation at the national institute of environmental health sciencesAmerican Journal of Bioethics 8 (3). 2008.This Article does not have an abstract
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3Conflicts of Interest at the NIH: No Easy Solution (review)Hastings Center Report 35 (1): 18-20. 2012.Editor's Note: On February 2, 2005, the National Institutes of Health changed course on conflicts of interest and prohibited its scientists from owning stock in or working as consultants with pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies. The following essay, sent to press before the new policy was announced, recommends a very different approach. The author stands by the recommendations.
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104Genetic modification and genetic determinismPhilosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine 1 9. 2006.In this article we examine four objections to the genetic modification of human beings: the freedom argument, the giftedness argument, the authenticity argument, and the uniqueness argument. We then demonstrate that each of these arguments against genetic modification assumes a strong version of genetic determinism. Since these strong deterministic assumptions are false, the arguments against genetic modification, which assume and depend upon these assumptions, are therefore unsound. Serious dis…Read more
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18Practical problems with family covenants in genetic testingAmerican Journal of Bioethics 1 (3). 2001.This Article does not have an abstract
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30Bioethical issues in providing financial incentives to research participantsMedicolegal and Bioethics 35. forthcoming.
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58The conflict between ethics and business in community pharmacy: What about patient counseling? (review)Journal of Business Ethics 28 (2). 2000.Patient counseling is a cornerstone of ethical pharmacy practice and high quality pharmaceutical care. Counseling promotes patient compliance with prescription regimens and prevents dangerous drug interactions and medication errors. Counseling also promotes informed consent and protects pharmacists against legal risks. However, economic, social, and technological changes in pharmacy practice often force community pharmacists to choose between their professional obligations to counsel patients an…Read more
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16Practical and Political Problems With a Global Research TaxAmerican Journal of Bioethics 10 (6): 44-45. 2010.
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50Authorship policies of scientific journals: Table 1Journal of Medical Ethics 42 (3): 199-202. 2016.
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64Scientific autonomy and public oversightEpisteme 5 (2). 2008.When scientific research collides with social values, science's right to self-governance becomes an issue of paramount concern. In this article, I develop an account of scientific autonomy within a framework of public oversight. I argue that scientific autonomy is justified because it promotes the progress of science, which benefits society, but that restrictions on autonomy can also be justified to prevent harm to people, society, or the environment, and to encourage beneficial research. I also…Read more
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59Ethical Issues in Field Trials of Genetically Modified Disease-Resistant MosquitoesDeveloping World Bioethics 12 (3): 37-46. 2012.Mosquito-borne diseases take a tremendous toll on human populations, especially in developing nations. In the last decade, scientists have developed mosquitoes that have been genetically modified to prevent transmission of mosquito-borne diseases, and field trials have been conducted. Some mosquitoes have been rendered infertile, some have been equipped with a vaccine they transmit to humans, and some have been designed to resist diseases. This article focuses on ethical issues raised by field t…Read more
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12What Are Reasonably Foreseeable Risks?American Journal of Bioethics 13 (12): 29-30. 2013.No abstract
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11Making Sense of the Undue Burden Interpretation of Minimal RiskAmerican Journal of Bioethics 14 (9): 1-2. 2014.No abstract
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19International Biomedical Research and Research Ethics Training in Developing CountriesJournal of Clinical Research and Bioethics 1 (1). 2010.
Areas of Specialization
Applied Ethics |
Philosophy of Biology |
General Philosophy of Science |