It is difficult to think of an example of an advancement in the biological sciences that has had an impact on society similar to that of the new genetics. Recent developments in biotechnology have occasioned much discussion among academics, professionals, and lay people alike. In particular, many questions and concerns have arisen over the acquisi tion, access, and control of genetic information. There are several reasons why the new genetics has commanded such widespread attention, and why it is now the subject of con siderable debate. Special reference is given in this volume to the...

This collection of essays, with an extended commentary by the editor, is concerned with developments in reproductive technology and the possibilities of genetic engineering. The volume provides a forum for debate between science and society. Leading scientists in the field explain the nature and goals of test tube reproduction and genetic engineering, and their eugenic implications. Other papers draw out the legal and ethical problems raised by these developments. The ethical dilemmas are discussed both from the point of view of secular moral philosophy and from a theological perspective. The...

Applied ethics has become established as a distinct area of study, but its theoretical basis, methodology and usefulness are still matters of controversy. This collection examines how the field has developed over the last 50 years of the 20th century, by bringing together those articles that have been seminal in the development of the subject. Rather than the multitude of issues that could be dealt with under the umbrella of Applied Ethics, the focus of these volumes is on the different types of approach to subject, the areas in which it has been most active, and ways in which the field has...

This collection of essays represents the work produced in the course of a three-year project funded by the Commission of the European Communities under the Biomed I programme, on the ethics of genetic screening, entitled 'Genetic screening: ethical and philosophical perspectives, with special reference to multifactorial diseases'. The short title of the project was Euroscreen, thereafter known as Euroscreen I, in the light of the fact that a second project on genetic screening was subsequently funded. The project was multinational and multidisciplinary, and had as its objectives to examine...

This volume is a multidisciplinary and multinational collection of papers on aspects of genetic screening, with special reference to the situation in Europe. Starting from the situation in practice, the book proceeds to examine what lessons, if any, can be learned from historical precedents and sociological perspectives and concludes by exploring the extent to which theoretical ethical frameworks can assist in addressing the practice and policy issues in screening. This exploration points to ways in which genetics itself affects and challenge those frameworks. This collection will be of...

It is difficult to think of an example of an advancement in the biological sciences that has had an impact on society similar to that of the new genetics. Recent developments in biotechnology have occasioned much discussion among academics, professionals, and lay people alike. In particular, many questions and concerns have arisen over the acquisi- tion, access, and control of genetic information. There are several reasons why the new genetics has commanded such widespread attention, and why it is now the subject of con- siderable debate. Special reference is given in this volume to the...