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Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

Articles on Biotechnology and Ethics

Material on cloning, genetic engineering, personalized medicine and other topics
  • When what we know outstrips what we can do

    Our genes contain information that scientists hope will help in the treatment of many diseases. Huntington's disease provides a window on the choices we face as medicine increases our ability to intervene in human genetics.

  • How personalized medicine can develop in a way that promotes the good of both individuals and the broader society.

  • The Ethics of Access

    Pharmacogenomics sparks new therapeutic possibilities and new threats to the U.S. health care system.

  • An Introduction to the Ethical Issues in Genetically Modified Foods

    Risks and benefits of GMOs are weighed.

  • Of SNPS, TRIPS, and Human Dignity

    Human DNA symbolizes something essential about humans themselves, and, as such, raises the issue of human dignity. While we may be able to respect that dignity and still offer the intellectual property protections crucial to drug development, it is unwise to ignore widespread public concern about how we deal with the building blocks of human life.

  • Human embryos should be recognized as having modest moral worth. Consequently we must have serious reasons to destroy them, and in such a case we must show respect for them when we destroy them.

  • Report from a conference on state regulation of cloning and stem cell research.

  • Attack of the killer tomatoes?

    The ethics of genetically modified organisms.