PHY's Bioethics

BIOETHICS SEMINAR, Spring 2012

WHITMAN COLLEGE, BIOL 405
PROFESSOR PAUL H. YANCEY

This is a 1-credit seminar, taught every 2-3 years, on the major biological and medical ethical issues facing society. Weekly readings will be assigned and discussed in sessions largely run by students.

GRADING: 20% on attendance and participation (in class and on email poll questions); 20% on weekly worksheets; 60% on researching materials and creating a presentation for leading one discussion.
TEXT: Introduction to Bioethics (Shannon and Kockler, 2009)

CONTENTS of BIOETHICS 405 Website:

Syllabus Table (below)

Recent News

INTERNET Links

SYLLABUS TABLE

DATE	TOPIC	READING*	Discussion Leaders	WEB LINKS
Jan. 19	Introduction: Ethical Principles	Chap. 1,3,4	Yancey	----
Jan. 26	Scientific and Medical Ethics; Responsibility	Chap. 2	Yancey
Feb. 2	Human Experimentation: Informed Consent, etc.	Chap. 16	Schutt, Glasionov	UW Human Exper. Ethics
Feb. 9	Reproduction I: ART	Chap. 6	Sieracki, Lewis
Feb. 16	Reproduction II: Cloning, Stem Cells	Chaps. 14	Harbour, Veith	Clonaid; Stemaid
Feb. 23	Genetic Screening; Gene Patenting	Chap. 7	Bruckner, Singer
Mar. 1	Health Care Resources I: Rationing, HMOs, Insurance	TBA	Huang, Helms
Mar. 8	Health Care Resources II: Organ Transplants	Chap. 15	Smith	www.unos.org
Mar. 10-25	Spring Break		---
Mar. 29	Death and Dying: Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide	Chaps. 8-11	Wheat, Rhoades	Task Force on Euthanasia
Apr. 5	Genetic Engineering I: Non-Human	Chap. 12	Bronstein, Raychaudhuri	News on GM Food
Apr. 12	Genetic Engineering: Human	Chap. 13	Stone
Apr. 19	Neuroethics	TBA	Jacob
Apr. 26	Animal Experimentation	TBA	Boyer
May 3	Environmental Ethics	Chap. 17	Buckham, Sutherland	SFSU Envir. Ethics site

*Introduction to Bioethics by Shannon & Kockler (2009)

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RECENT NEWS -- undergoing revision for 2012

Scientific/Research Ethics; Human Experiments

Clinical trials on trial -- Jan. 2011
Inverse benefits of drugs harm public health -- Jan 2011
FDA ditches Declaration of Helsinki for overseas clinical research -- May 2008
The ethics of clinical research in developing countries -- Jan. 2008
UK Science head proposes Ethical Code for scientists -- Sept. 2007
Pres. Clinton fights AIDS in Africa -- Aug. 2006--working to lower drug costs -- Jan. 2006
Ways to improve Informed Consent Testable -- Jan. 2008
US panel recommends loosening restrictions on using prisoners for drug testing--Aug. 2006; Point/Counterpoint debate -- 2007

Reproductive Technology --ART; Cloning; Stem Cells

International network of surrogate mothers, egg& sperm donors dodge restrictive laws -- Dec. 2010
Various news stories on ART at NY Times
Human clones may be genetically viable -- Feb. 2009
Ethics debate over mother of 6 who has octuplets via IVF -- Jan. 2009
First embryonic stem cell trial approved by FDA -- Jan. 2009
Clonaid ready to show proof that they have been cloning human beings -- Dec. 2008
UK approves new embryo law -- Oct. 2008
Ethics of having baby to harvest stem cells questioned -- July 2008

Euthanasia; Health Resources; Organ Transplants

European Human Rights Court declares 'no right to assisted suicide' -- Jan. 2011
Montana court OKs physician assisted suicide -- Dec. 2008
Washington State voters approve physician assisted suicide -- Nov. 2008

Genetic Engineering

Engineered golf-course grass escapes into the wild--Aug. 2006
The Ethics of SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY --Dec. 2010
Poor countries urged to get ready for synthetic biology -- Jan 2011

Neuroethics

Brain enhancement of mathematical ability -- Nov. 2010

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INTERNET LINKS

Sites with general information and news on bioethics:

Sigma Xi's RESEARCH ETHICS in the NEWS
Bioethics.com -- bioethics news
BIOEDGE -- Bioethics news worlwide
GENEREF Bioethics news
NurseGroups Bioethics site--links to essays on most bioethical issues
MSNBC Breaking Bioethics News -- with articles by bioethicist Arthur Caplan
Guide Bioethics Resources online
Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) Bioethics site
IRB Forum -- discussion site regarding Inst. Res. Boards
Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues
Nuffield Council on Bioethics -- independent analysis of critical issues
U.W. Bioethics of Medicine site--lots of topic links
Bioethics.Net--U. Penn.'s thorough resource for topics overviews, detailed articles, court cases, forums and conferences, jobs and grad programs, etc.; and "portal" with links to specific topics
CNN Bioethics Archives --old articles on all matters of bioethics by Dr. Jeffrey Kahn, U. Minn. Center for Bioethics
Amer. Journal of Bioethics

Private companies; Philanthropies/Charities; Organ network

"Pharmaceutical industry's corporate social responsibility towards HIV/AIDS" --Aug. 2006 position article
A company that cryopreserves humans
California Cryobank
A company that will copyright your DNA for you
An organization that distributes unwanted human embryos for adoption -- controversial because it received gov't funding
United Network for Organ Sharing

Sites with information on specific issues

Recent news on IVF at IVF.net
Should Assisted Suicide be legalized? --CNN debate site
Do No Harm --The Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics (focuses mainly on stem-cell research
Biological warfare FAQs
Scientific testing of herbal medicines
International Anti-Euthanasia Task Force
Eugenics in America
HUMAN ORGANS for Sale -- a global website
Virginia Tech's Agbiotech Information site (Genetically Modified Food)
US State Dept's site addressing concerns over Genetically Modified crops
New Scientist site on the latest articles on GM food
UK Site on the debate over Genetically Modified Food
Coalition for Life Sciences--Advocacy
AIDS in Africa at AVERT.org
Recombinant DNA Case Study

ISSUE. Regarding marijuana use, do you favor:
A: No legalization of marijuana;
B. Legalization for restricted medical purposes only; or
C. Full legalization to an extent similar to alcohol or tobacco

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