Faculty Bibliography

Much attention has been focused in recent years on the ethical acceptability of physicians receiving gifts from drug companies. Professional guidelines recognize industry gifts as a conflict of interest and establish thresholds prohibiting the exchange of large gifts while expressly allowing for the exchange of small gifts such as pens, note pads, and coffee. Considerable evidence from the social sciences suggests that gifts of negligible value can influence the behavior of the recipient in ways the recipient does not always realize. Policies and guidelines that rely on arbitrary value limits for gift-giving or receipt should be reevaluated.

OBJECTIVE: Posthumous sperm procurement involves harvesting gametes from a recently deceased man for cryopreservation and future use in ART. This paper discusses the practical and ethical role of posthumous sperm procurement in medical practice and society and submits possible solutions, including the establishment of formal policies and protocols. DESIGN: English-language literature review and bioethical discussion. RESULT(S): In the United States, an increase in requests and protocols has been documented. International requests and regulation are variable. CONCLUSION(S): Posthumous sperm procurement is fraught with ethical dilemmas, including informed consent, privacy, inheritance, and child welfare. To establish appropriate medical practice, it is important to consider all stakeholders in the decision-making process. We believe that an acceptable and ethical resolution can be obtained only through the collaborative input of all involved parties. We have looked to U.S. and international sources for guidance in current practice and to gain insight into the formulation of future policies.

In extending the ban to include this form of cloning, the president is wrong. His call for a total ban on all forms of human cloning rests on three extremely controversial claims: that all embryos are people from the moment of creation, that cloned embryos can become human beings and that it is impossible to stop the use of cloning for the creation of people unless the creation of cloned embryos is banned as well

So now the world knows what I have known for more than a year: A good chunk of the DNA used to map the human genome belongs to J. Craig Venter, the scientist who led the effort at Celera Genomics (racing against the National Institutes of Health) to come up with the first rough look at our genes. Four years ago, when the possibility of mapping the human genome was first discussed, Dr. Venter asked my advice about the ethics of this undertaking. I said that a crucial issue would turn out to be whose genes were selected for mapping. From a scientific point of view anyone's genes would be fine; the detail of the first map would be relatively crude, making the tiny genetic differences that exist among human beings irrelevant. But, as I've often found -- and as the current battle over cloning human stem cells for medical research is making clear -- much more than pure science is at issue when genetics is the subject

"Bioethics in America: Origins and Cultural Politics" by M. L. Tina Stevens is reviewed