Can We Deal with the Truth?

Blog / /

  D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director Two things have happened in recent weeks that should get our attention. Both are truth claims, and come from opposite ends of the cultural and political spectra. First of all, what is truth? The Free Dictionary is helpful: truth is defined as “Conformity to fact or actuality.” That which conforms to reality is truth. An example often bandied about is my action based on what I believe about gravity. That is, if I believe that the gravitational pull of the earth does not exist (is not true), then I should ...read more

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Editing Our Future

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

The recent (March 6-8, 2023) meeting of the Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing in London has brought ethical concerns about heritable human genome editing to the forefront once again. Recall that the previous meeting five years ago exploded into international furor over revelations from He Jiankui, the Chinese scientist who edited the genomes of three embryos and brought them to term. He was jailed for his actions in China and was only recently released. Apparently, he is unrepentant and still harboring visions of reactivating his genome editing pursuits. Not surprisingly, ...read more

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What Does It Take to Alter Our Next Generation?

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D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director

I have been thinking about how one generation proactively alters the succeeding one. As I contemplated this conundrum, I found myself writing a story instead of a list. That story was published as a SALVO blog piece, and the link is below. The \”angsty\” pirate lives in a dystopia created by childhood desire, indulgent parents, a cooperative, complicit medical-industrial complex, and a legal climate in which desire is codified into law. What could possibly go wrong with that?

Click here to read the story. Then, send any comments to us through the Contact Us feature here ...read more

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Statement on the Clinical Use of Human Germline Genome Editing

Blog, Engineering Humans / /
The Tennessee Center for Bioethics & Culture responds to the Public Call for Evidence for the International Commission* on the Clinical Use of Human Germline Genome Editing

 

Given that According to the canons of research on children, experiments are only ethically justified when there are clear benefits to that individual child and proportional burdens to that child. Risks and burdens beyond truly “minimal” to individual children are not justified to benefit other children. To do so is to treat one child as a means to another child’s ends (i.e., to instrumentalize that child).

 

Whereas Human germline genome editing is experimentation on embryonic humans who cannot give consent, ...read more

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Life Without Us?

Blog, End of Life, Other Voices / /

By Jane Patton, Guest Columnist

It is not new that some people say that they do not want to bring children into the world. And, as far as the do’s and don’ts of being environmentally responsible, the carbon footprint of a single human being tops the list of avoidable behaviors. One presidential candidate even advocates abortion as a way to combat climate change. So, it may be okay to have one or two children. Any more than that and parents might be called selfish.

But, a growing movement is taking the idea of limiting births to the next level—preventing all births. Who ...read more

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The Ovolution of the Three-Parent Embryo

Blog, Born Human, Resource Room / /
By D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director The Tennessee Center for Bioethics & Culture The United Kingdom presented the rest of the world with Louise Joy Brown in July, 1978, the first test-tube baby.  They convened what became known as the Warnock Committee to advise Parliament regarding the new reproductive technologies:  “what policies and safeguards should be applied, including consideration of the social, ethical, and legal implications of these developments, and to make recommendations.” (Warnock, A Question of Life, 4.)  The Warnock Committee by a slim margin approved a variety of reproductive adventures, including ...read more

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