Articles and Commentary

Pet cloning is a terrible idea -  and, we now know, an extremely unpopular one. Cloning endangered species is equally foolish. Re-creating extinct species is an absurd concept, whose worst extreme is the proposal to re-make a Neanderthal. Taken together...

Last month marked the tenth anniversary of Jesse Gelsinger's death. While perhaps not quite a household name, Gelsinger is vividly remembered among many medical researchers. His death during a gene therapy clinical trial in September 1999 rocked the field like...

Despite over a decade of hype, cloning-based stem cell research has offered little in the way of scientific progress. It has been more symbol than substance; more moving target than realistic goal. However, by complicating both politics and policy, is...

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...

To the Editor:

“The Gift of Life, and Its Price” reports that the fertility industry’s professional organization encourages its members to transfer fewer embryos, so as to produce fewer multiple pregnancies and premature babies. The organization, the American...

Researchers at the Oregon National Primate Research Center recently announced the birth of four monkeys after a procedure that involved swapping the genetic material of one egg into another. An article in Nature and a conference call briefing with reporters...

Bioethics councils have come in many shapes and sizes, with different mandates, memberships, and outcomes. What kind of bioethics council would best serve the nation now? How can we move beyond the rancor and polarization-not to mention hyperbole and distortions...

April 12, 1955 was a day of celebration. Across the United States, church bells rang, sirens blew, and people poured into the streets singing and dancing. The rejoicing was a spontaneous response to news that field trials of Jonas Salk's...