Biopolitics, Mythic Science, and Progressive Values
By Marcy Darnovsky,
Progress in Bioethics: Science, Policy and Politics; edited by Jonathan D. Moreno and Sam Berger (The MIT Press, 2010)
| 10. 16. 2009
When bioethical deliberation confronts human biotechnologies, it often faces novel questions that recent technical developments have conjured into existence. Many of these biotechnology-related situations are both socially consequential and, at least in some respects, unprecedented in human experience. After spending its first years considering these issues largely as a scholarly endeavor with practical applications in human research and medical practice, bioethics in recent years has ventured far beyond academic and clinical settings.
Among the bioethical issues that have of late become topical are cloning and stem cell research; regulation of the assisted reproduction industry; "designer babies" and the prospect of a market-driven "techno-eugenics;" sex selection and disability de-selection; surrogacy and reproductive tourism; patents on life and markets in kidneys, eggs, and other human tissue. Formerly the province of philosophers, physicians, and lawyers, these topics are now frequently discussed in mainstream media, popular culture and electoral politics. They are matters of interest to entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and global industries. They have captured the attention of policy makers, political consultants, and candidates; of philosophers, ministers, and rabbis. They are subjects for social...
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