Every day this question is posed in one form or another. How we answer it will define the 21st century, the "Biotech Century." The Tennessee Center for Bioethics and Culture is here to inform and equip you as we encounter such vital issues as:
What is stem cell research? Should human cloning be pursued? Euthanasia/physician-assisted suicide: desirable ends? Is there a difference between therapy and enhancement? What is transhumanism, and why should we care? Genetic testing: what impact will it have on our lives? Should some human rights extend beyond our species?
Jeremy Bentham would be proud. Each new administration typically replaces advisory committees, but in President Obama's case, the President's Council on Bioethics is being replaced on the grounds that it was non-expert, ideological, and ultimately not practical. What seems to matter most is not the ethical or moral quandaries but solutions that please the majority. The problem with a Utilitarian point of view is that the individual disappears in deference to the general population. In this week's news, read Dr. Peter Lawler's reflections on the Council's purpose, functions, and termination. In other news, the questions of utility. personal rights, and health care are examined in U.S. preparedness for the Swine Flu, in payment for egg donation, and in the United Kingdom case of in-vitro mix-ups.
The Tennessee Center for Bioethics & Culture has finished the production of our second video, Who Am I? This video is a poignant exploration of what it means to be a donor-conceived child. Please view our new video on YouTube at
Human cloning is the asexual reproduction of human beings, and occurs in this manner: the first requirement is a human egg, procured by no small procedure from a woman whose system has been stimulated with powerful medications to produce oocytes, or eggs. Next, that egg’s nucleus is removed, and the nucleus from a somatic cell (a cell other than sperm or egg) is inserted into the enucleated egg. Then a chemical or electrical stimulus is applied, and the cell begins to divide, forming an embryo. This is somatic cell nuclear transfer, or “cloning.”
