Ethical Issues in Genetics

Theological Studies

Volumn 60, Issue 1, 1999, Pages 111-123

  Shannon, Thomas A ^a  

^a WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; CLONING; ETHICS; GENE THERAPY; GENETIC ENHANCEMENT; GENETIC PRIVACY; GENETIC SCREENING; GENETICS AND REPRODUCTION; GERM CELL; HUMAN; PRENATAL DIAGNOSIS; RISK ASSESSMENT;

GENETICS AND REPRODUCTION;

CLONING, ORGANISM; GENE THERAPY; GENETIC ENHANCEMENT; GENETIC PRIVACY; GENETIC SCREENING; GERM CELLS; HUMANS; PRENATAL DIAGNOSIS; RISK ASSESSMENT;

EID: 0033102681     PISSN: 00405639     EISSN: 21691304     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/004056399906000107     Document Type: Review

References (64)

1. William J. Winslade, "Privacy in Health Care," in Encyclopedia of Bioethics, ed. Warren T. Reich, rev. ed. (New York: Macmillan, 1995) 4. 2064-65.
2. the website of The National Human Genome Research Institute,
3. Philip R. Reilly, "Genetic Privacy Bills Proliferate," The Gene Letter 1 (May 1997),
4. Nancy Kass, "Insurance for the Insurers: The Use of Genetic Tests," Hastings Center Report 22 (November-December 1992) 6-11;
5. Thomas H. Murray, "Genetics and the Moral Mission of Health Insurance," Hastings Center Report 22 (November-December 1992) 12-17.
6. Thomas H. Murray, "Warning: Screening Workers for Genetic Risk," Hastings Center Report 13 (February 1983) 5-8.
7. For overviews and more detailed discussions, see Barbara Katz Rothman, The Tentative Pregnancy (New York: Viking, 1986);
8. "Genetic Grammar: 'Health, ' 'Illness, ' and the Human Genome Project," a special supplement in Hastings Center Report 22 (July-August 1992) S11-S20;
9. Edward M. Berger, "Morally Relevant Features of Genetic Maladies and Genetic Testing," in Bernard Gert et al., Morality and the New Genetics (Sudbury, Mass.: Jones and Bartlett, 1996);
10. R. Gregg, Pregnancy in a High-Tech Age: Paradoxes of Choice (New York: Paragon House, 1993);
11. Larry Thompson, Correcting the Code: Inventing the Genetic Cure for the Human Body (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994);
12. Gwynne Basen, Margrit Eicher, and Abby Lippman, ed. Misconceptions: The Social Construction of Choice and the New Reproductive and Genetic Technologies (Quebec City: Voyageur, 1996).
13. For an early framing of the issues, see President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research, Screening and Counseling for Genetic Conditions (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1983).
14. For a highly critical view of genetic testing, see Ruth Hubbard and Richard C. Lewontin, "Pitfalls of Genetic Testing," New England Journal of Medicine 334 (2 May 1996) 1192-93.
15. But see also Francis S. Collins, "BRCAl-Lots of Mutations, Lots of Dilemmas," New England Journal of Medicine 334 (18 Jan 1996) 186-88
16. Jerome Groopman, "Decoding Destiny," The New Yorker 76 (9 February 1998) 42-48;
17. Albert Rosenfeld, "At Risk for Huntington's Disease: Who Should Know What and When?" Hastings Center Report 14 (June 1984) 5-8;
18. A. M. Cordi and J. Brandt, "Psychological Cost and Benefits of Predictive Testing for Huntington's Disease," American Journal of Medical Genetics 55 (1995) 618-25;
19. Dorothy C. Wertz et al., "Genetic Testing for Children and Adolescents: Who Decides?" Journal of the American Medical Association 272 (1994) 875-81;
20. Sandi Wiggins et al., "The Psychological Consequences of Predictive Testing for Huntington's Disease," New England Journal of Medicine 327 (12 November 1992) 1401-05.
21. Abstracts and some articles in New England Journal of Medicine are available at their website,
22. For an excellent British perspective, see The Troubled Helix: Social and Psychological Implications of the New Human Genetics, Theresa Marteau and Martin Richards, ed. (New York: Cambridge University, 1996).
23. Deborah Schräg et al., "Decision Analysis - Effects of Prophylactic Mastectomy and Oophorectomy on Life Expectancy among Women with BRCA1 and BRCA2 Mutations," New England Journal of Medicine 336 (15 May 1997) 1465-71
24. Dorothy Wertz et al, "Genetic Testing for Children and Adolescents" 875-81.
25. Mary Murray, "Nancy Wexler," New York Times Magazine, 13 February 1994, 31.
26. Confer the website Options, , for a sample of the genetic pedigrees that can be ordered from egg and sperm vendors.
27. LeRoy Walters and Julie Gage Palmer, The Ethics of Human Gene Therapy (New York: Oxford University, 1997).
28. see W. French Anderson: "Human Gene Therapy: Why Draw A Line?" Journal of Medicine and Philosophy. (December 1989) 681-93;
29. "Genetics and Human Malleability," Hastings Center Report 20 (1990) 21-24;
30. and "Genetic Engineering and Our Humanness," Human Gene Therapy 5 (1994) 755- 59.
31. For general overviews, see the following: Clifford Grobstein and Michael Flower, "Gene Therapy: Proceed with Caution," Hastings Center Report 14 (April 1984) 13-17;
32. Burke K. Zimmerman, "Human Germ-Line Therapy: The Case for its Developments and Use," Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 16 (1991) 593-612;
33. Maurice A. M. de Wächter, "Ethical Aspects of Human Germ-Line Therapy," Bioethics 1 (1993) 166-77;
34. LeRoy Walters, "Human Gene Therapy: Ethics and Public Policy," Human Gene Therapy 2 (Summer 1991) 116-20;
35. David A. Kessler et al., "Regulation of Somatic Cell Therapy and Gene Therapy by the Food and Drug Administration," New England Journal of Medicine 329 (14 October 1993) 1169-73;
36. Nelson A. Wivel and LeRoy Walters, "Germ-Line Gene Modification and Disease Prevention: Some Medical and Ethical Perspectives," Science 262 (22 October 1993) 533-38;
37. Jeff Lyon and Peter Gorner, Altered Fates: Gene Therapy and the Retooling of Human Life (New York: W. W. Norton, 1995).
38. W. French Anderson and T. Friedmann, "Strategies for Gene Therapy," in The Encyclopedia of Bioethics 2.908.
39. Walters and Palmer, The Ethics of Human Gene Therapy 36-44.
40. Jeffrey M. Leiden, "Gene Therapy - Promise, Pitfalls, and Prognosis," New England Journal of Medicine 333 (28 September 1995) 871-73.
41. Walters and Palmer, The Ethics of Human Gene Therapy 81-82
42. Eric Juengst, "Germ-Line Therapy: Back to the Basics," Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 16 (1991) 587-92.
43. For selected European perspectives on the pros and cons of this debate, see Maurice A. M. de Wächter, "Ethical Aspects of Germ-Line Therapy," Bioethics 1 (1993) 166-77.
44. Walters and Palmer, The Ethics of Human Gene Therapy 82-83.
45. de Wächter, "Ethics of Human Germ-Line Therapy" 175.
46. James Keenan, S. J., "Genetic Research and the Elusive Body," in Lisa S. Cahill and Margaret A. Farley, ed., Embodiment, Morality, and Medicine (Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic, 1995) 59-73, at 59.
47. Gina Kolata, "Scientists Brace for Changes in Path of Human Evolution," New York Times, 21 March 1998, Al and A7).
48. Glen McGee, The Perfect Baby: A Pragmatic Approach to Genetics (Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 1995) 123-33.
49. Andrea L. Bonnicksen, "Ethical and Policy Issues in Human Embryo Twinning," Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 4 (1995) 268-84.
50. For early discussions see, James D. Watson, "Moving Toward Clonal Man: Is This What We Want?" The Atlantic, May 1971, 50-53;
51. Martin Ebon, ed. The Cloning of Man: A Brave New Hope - or Horror? (New York: New American Library, 1978);
52. Margaret Brumby and Pascal Kasimba, "When Is Cloning Lawful?" Journal of In Vitro Fertilization and Embryo Transfer 4 (August 1987) 198-204;
53. Ira H. Carmen, Cloning and the Constitution: An Inquiry into Governmental Policymaking and Genetic Experimentation (Madison: University of Wisconsin, 1985).
54. The most comprehensive discussion of cloning can be found in the National Bioethics Advisory Commission, Cloning Human Beings: Report and Recommendation of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission (Rockville, Md.: NBAC, 1997);
55. see also the commentary on this report "Cloning Human Beings: Responding to the National Bioethics Advisory Commission's Report," in Hastings Center Report 27 (September-October 1997) 6-22;
56. Gina Kolata, Clone: The Road to Dolly and the Path Ahead (New York: William Morrow, 1998);
57. Gregory E. Pence, Who's Afraid of Human Cloning? (Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 1998).
58. Vittorio Sgaramella and Norton D. Zinder, "Letter to the Editor," Science 279 (30 January 1998) 636-66
59. Gina Kolata, "In Big Advance in Cloning, Biologists Create 50 Mice," New York Times, 22 July 1998, Al and A20.
60. 6 See Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith "Donum vitae, Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation" (22 February, 1987);
61. Paul Ramsey, e.g., argues that any reproductive technology that separates reproduction from heterosexual intercourse is immoral (Fabricated Man: The Ethics of Genetic Control [New Haven: Yale University, 1970]).
62. 7 See Edward Vacek, S.J., "Vatican Instruction on Reproductive Technology," Theological Studies 49 (1988) 110-31.
63. Lori B. Andrews, "Human Cloning: Assessing the Ethical and Legal Questions," Chronicle of Higher Education, 13 February 1998, B4-B5.
64. Thomas A. Shannon, "Remaking Ourselves? The Ethics of Stem-Cell Research," Commonweal 125 (December 4, 1998) 9-10.