A Statement to the EPA about Endocrine Disruptors

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D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A.

Executive Director

A Statement of Concern

In June of this year, The Tennessee Center for Bioethics & Culture submitted a statement to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding water safety and endocrine disruptors. According to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, endocrine disruptors are natural or man-made chemicals that may mimic or interfere with the body’s hormones, known as the endocrine system. These chemicals are linked with many health problems in both wildlife and people.

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Two chat bots have a conversation.

AI Mental Health Chatbots May Not Be So Healthy

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by C. Ben Mitchell, Ph.D

Professor and Author of Bioethics and Medicine: A Short Companion

Apparently, AI therapy chatbots do not know that the first principle of medical ethics is primum non nocere (first, do no harm). Actually, they don’t know anything. Chatbots are not knowing beings; they are computational large language models (LLMs) that scrape data, predict how to respond to prompts, and spit out sometimes accurate and sometimes completely erroneous information (so-called hallucinations). Properly speaking, they are neither artificial nor intelligent. But many people, even in clinical medicine, seem to want to give AI the benefit ...read more

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Scotland the Brave

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Joyce A. Shelton, Ph.D.

Professor of Biology Emerita

Trinity International University

Recently, the Parliament of Scotland (building pictured above) displayed an uncommon act of “Scotch courage”, which had everything to do with moral fortitude and nothing to do with whiskey.  On 17 March 2026, following months of debate, the Scottish Parliament voted independently from the rest of the United Kingdom to reject a bill that would allow medical assistance in dying to terminally ill adults.  Apparently, this bill, ...read more

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A Step in the Right Direction

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D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A.

Executive Director

The National Organ Transplantation Act (NOTA) of 1984 established the not-for-profit Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs). These facilitate the organ donation process in a variety of ways — from public education to “clinical management of organ donors and assessment of medical suitability.” There are 56 OPOs in the United States. Hospitals are assigned to a specific OPO; there is no choice involved. In recent years, OPOs have come under scrutiny due to various negative reports, including the harrowing ...read more

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DIY Chemical Abortion: What Should We Know?

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The drug Mifepristone is pictured above. The following article, discussing the use of Mifepristone as an abortifacient, details concerns about that use. No portion of the article constitutes medical advice. D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A., Executive Director, The Tennessee Center for Bioethics & Culture

Joyce A. Shelton, Ph.D.Professor of Biology EmeritaTrinity International University

Mifepristone, the so-called abortion pill, continues to be a prominent news topic, particularly since a Senate Committee conducted a hearing in January on its safety, and the landmark Louisiana v. FDA case (enjoined ...read more

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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MEDICINE

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Middle Tennessee, like many other locales this week, is enduring snow, ice, and frigid temperatures. That brings some fresh irony to our beginning a new series on artificial intelligence (AI) and medicine — particularly to people who are trying to stay warm amidst power outages. We pray for your safekeeping, and hope that whenever you are able to come back online, you will enjoy our featured article and the other linked ones as well.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MEDICINE (First in a Series)D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A.Executive Director

AI and Truly Human ...read more

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