Advanced search Subscribe to our newsletter and you'll continuously be informed about our new books, series and journals. You can customize this e-mail newsletter to your particular needs and interests. Newsletters include special discount codes. To subscribe or change existing preferences press the subscribe button	Series and Journals Genes and Morality. New Essays. LAUNIS, Veikko, Juhani PIETARINEN and Juha RÄIKKÄ (Eds.) Amsterdam/Atlanta, GA, 1999, IX, 199 pp. Illustrated. A volume in Nordic Value Studies (NVS). Pb: 978-90-420-0696-6 / 90-420-0696-X € 39 / US$ 53 Series: Value Inquiry Book Series 83 Nordic Value Studies “As a whole, the book is an indispensable piece of secondary literature on John Harris’s Wonderwoman and Superman and additionally contains interesting views on ethics and epistemology of genetics.” Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy: A European Journal – Volume 4, No. 3 2001 “ Thoughtfully edited … Has features not usually found in the recent plethora of books on ethics and genetics …useful analyses … [John] Harris develops an excellent, detailed argument that we owe equal health care opportunities to everyone, even if a lifestyle has contributed to someone’s illness … especially noteworthy is Angus Clarke’s thorough rebuttal of the theory that, if people learn their risks of susceptibility to future disease, it as effective for such people to initiate risk-reducing behaviors.” Ethics - Vol. 111, No. 4, July 2001 “authoritative, easy to read, and pleasantly jargon-free” Journal of Medical Ethics – 26.6 – December 2000 Most public discussion has focused on those effects of genetic research that are considered in some way unwanted or unpleasant. For example, there has been much debate concerning the risks and the ethical appropriateness of genetic screening, gene therapy, and agricultural applications based on genetic techniques. It often claimed that genetic research may cause new problems such as genetic discrimination, stigmatization, environmental risks, or mistreatment of animals. Genes and Morality: New Essays adopts a critical attitude toward genetic research, on both a theoretical and a practical level. It presents some of the most important problems in the ethics of genetic engineering, including the questions of genetic health and disease, genetic testing, responsibility for health, patenting non-human and human life, and problems related to the disclosure of genetic information. The aim of the book is to focus on real ethical and conceptual issues. Consider, for instance, the concept of genetic disease. As one of the contributors, Ingmar Pörn, writes, "fear of genetic disease, or anxiety, is not itself a disease any more than fear of becoming unemployed is a disease. Alleviating such emotions is not a medical task to be discharged by drug therapy." The book also examines the philosophical foundations of these issues by discussing the most influential bioethical theories of today, including utilitarianism and principlism. Contents: Editorial Foreword. Acknowledgements. Introduction. PART I: METHODOLOGICAL AND THEORETICAL ISSUES. ONE Matti HÄYRY: What the Fox Would Have Said, Had He Been a Hedgehog: On the Methodology and Normative Approach of John Harris's Wonderwoman and Superman. TWO Ingmar PERSSON: Does It Matter When We Begin to Exist? THREE Sirkku Kristiina HELLSTEN: Can We Do Wrong by Bringing Children into Being? FOUR Torbjörn TÄNNSJÖ: Impersonal Morality: A Defense. FIVE Søren HOLM: Principles of Health Care Ethics: Solution or Problem? SIX Juha RÄIKKÄ: On the Morality of Avoiding Information. PART II: PRACTICAL ISSUES. SEVEN John HARRIS: Genome Analysis and Responsibility for Health. EIGHT Ingmar PÖRN: Genetic Information and Care. NINE Anglus CLARKE: The Genetic Dissection of Complex Traits. TEN Rogeer HOEDEMAEKERS and Henk TEN HAVE: Genetic Health and Genetic Disease. ELEVEN Juhani PIETARINEN and Veikko LAUNIS: Patenting Non-Human and Human Life. TWELVE Christoph REHMANN-SUTTER: Hubris and Hybrids in the Myth of Frankenstein. Gregory L. FOWLER and Michael J. GARLAND: Translating the Human Genome Project into Social Policy: A Model for Participatory Democracy. Notes on Contributors. Index. NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS Angus Clarke is Clinical Reader and Honorary Consultant Clinical Geneticist at the Department of Medical Genetics of the University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff, United Kingdom. His research interests include ectodermal dysplasia, Rett syndrome, neuromuscular diseases, newborn screening, and social and ethical issues raised by clinical applications of genetics. Gregory L. Fowler is Professor of Biology and Former Director of the Churchill Scholars Honors Program at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, the United States. He is also a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health and Preventative Medicine at Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland. Michael J. Garland is co-founder of Oregon Health Decisions, Professor of Public Health, Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, and Director of Educational Policy in the Center for Ethics in Health Care, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, the United States. John Harris is Professor of Bioethics and Research Director of The Centre for Social Ethics and Policy at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. He is also a Director of the Institute of Medicine, Law and Bioethics. Matti Häyry is Senior Reseach Fellow at the Academy of Finland, Docent in Practical Philosophy at the Universities of Helsinki and Turku, Finland, and Docent of Bioethics at the University of Tampere. He is also an adviser to the Finnish National Board of Health and Social Security on bioethics. Sirkku Kristiina Hellsten is Docent and Research Fellow in the Department of Practical Philosophy at the University of Helsinki, Finland. She has published two books and various articles on political philosophy and bioethics. She is currently working on a research project on the ethical problems involved in the control and use of genetic information. Rogeer Hoedemaekers is Researcher at the Department of Ethics, Philosophy and History of Medicine of the School of Medical Sciences of the Catholic University Nijmegen, The Netherlands, and Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Professional Ethics of the University of Lancashire, Preston, United Kingdom. He has recently completed his -Ph.D thesis on normative determinants of genetic screening. Søren Holm is Reader in Bioethics at the Institute for Medicine, Law, and Bioethics of the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. He has degrees in medicine and health care ethics, and a doctoral degree in bioethics. He is also a member of the Danish Council of Ethics which advises the Danish parliament and government on bioethical issues. Veikko Launis is Researcher at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Turku, Finland. He is currently working on a Ph.D thesis on the ethical foundation of the new genetics. Ingmar Persson is Senior Research Fellow in Practical Philosophy at Lund University, Sweden. He has published articles in the areas of ethics, personal identity, and free-will, and is currently working on a book on practical rationality. Juhani Pietarinen is Professor of Practical Philosophy at the University of Turku, Finland. He has published books and articles on various problems of inductive logic, social philosophy, ethics, and history of philosophy. He is currently -interested in environmental philosophy and the classics of the seventeenth century. Ingmar Pörn is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Helsinki, Finland. His publications include The Logic of Power and Action Theory and Social Science. He has also published papers on health and disease, emotions, and the meaning of life. He is currently working on the conceptual foundations of care and caring. Juha Räikkä is Docent in Practical Philosophy at the University of Turku, Finland. His research interests include ethics, bioethics, social philosophy, and political theory. Christoph Rehmann-Sutter is Lecturer in Philosophy of Nature and Bioethics at the Institute for History and Ethics of Medicine of the University of Basel, Switzerland. He has full academic training in both molecular biology and philosophy. He is currently interested in the philosophical foundations of ecological and medical bioethics, working on a "relationship approach." Torbjörn Tännsjö is Professor of Practical Philosophy at Gothenburg University, Sweden. He has published many books and articles on topics in moral and political philosophy, in both Swedish and English. His most recent book is Hedonistic Utilitarianism. Henk ten Have is Professor of Medical Ethics, Head of the Department of Ethics, Philosophy and History of Medicine of the School of Medical Sciences of the Catholic University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and Visiting Professor at the Centre for Profes-sional Ethics of the University of Lancashire, Preston. EDITORIAL FOREWORD Advances in molecular biology have forced humankind to confront new moral problems and ethical dilemmas. How should we use genetic engineering in the treatment of hereditary diseases? How should we define hereditary diseases, as opposed to healthy, or normal, mutations in the human genome? Are we allowed to improve the qualities of individuals even beyond the boundaries of health and physical well-being? And which methods are we entitled to use in order to find out about deviations from normalcy in the genetic constitution of our fellow humans? These questions and many others are tackled in the present book, Genes and Morality: New Essays, which is edited by three outstanding philosophers from the University of Turku, Finland - Veikko Launis, Juhani Pietarinen, and Juha Räikkä. The editors have studied the ethical issues surrounding genetic engineering extensively, and their previous publications on the topic include Doing the Decent Thing with Genes (1996) and Genes and Ethics (in Finnish, 1997). Genes and Morality: New Essays is an important book for two reasons. It presents clearly some of the most important problems in the ethics of genetic engineering, including the questions of genetic health, genetic improvements, and genetic testing. But more than that, it also examines the philosophical foundations of these issues in a lucid and concise style. The authors are experts in the field, and this makes the book both reliable and easy-to-read to all those who are interested in the moral dimensions of modern genetic engineering. Matti Häyry Special Series Editor, Nordic Value Studies SAMPLE PAGE (Text only, note that the lay-out of the page is not reproduced) All of this new information may well be double-edged. As well as providing information which may generate therapies and preventive strategies, it will also provide information that might be of interest to third parties, to other family members, colleagues, employers, insurance companies, and of course to the government or to government agencies. This is a vast subject, and before moving on to discuss the issue of personal and public responsibility for health I would just like to flag four particular sets of dangers arising from genetic screening consequent upon human genome analysis. 2. Four Dangers The first is obviously that where employment opportunities are to some extent in short supply, individuals may be discriminated against in employment or denied access to a chosen career or forced to change their job because they are at slightly greater than average risk, a risk moreover which they themselves may be willing to run if fully acquainted with its nature and extent. (There is a problem here as to whether their willingness to run such a risk means that they are also willing to be personally responsible for any costs accruing if they contract an occupational illness. The answer to such a question will of course in part depend upon whether the circumstances in which they succumbed to the hazard involved any negligence or other culpable act on the part of their employer or others.) The second danger is that the ability to filter out "at risk" employees may lessen the imperatives to clean up and make safe the workplace or the physical environment making the world at large a more dangerous and unpleasant place. Third, workers identified as being "at risk" will not unnaturally be anxious, perhaps for the rest of what may prove to be long and healthy lives, about their condition and its consequences. The fourth major danger that we will make room for here, but note only briefly, is that of the abuse of information by insurance agencies. This abuse is in a sense already with us in the case of the treatment of those with antibodies to HIV/AIDS but it has also recently been introduced as a "benefit" of discovering the gene associated with breast cancer. Human genome analysis will become available at a time when there is, in many societies, increasing pressure of another sort.	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