Hot Topics: Global Ethics

Blog Posts (8)

May 8, 2018

Speaking to the Media about Antimicrobial Resistance: A Deeper Description of How I Wear Many Hats as a Bioethicist

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

Last week, I was interviewed by an academic news serviceabout antimicrobial resistance (AMR) after a study reported that giving antibiotics to children in selected African towns led to a decreased mortality rate.  …

October 12, 2017

Justice and Bioethics: Who Should Finance Academic Publishing?

by Udo Schuklenk (Joint Editor in Chief) & David Magnus (Editor in Chief)
We applaud Chattopadhyay, Muyser, Moxham & DeVries on their article, “A Question of Social Justice: How Policies of Profit Negate Engagement of Developing World Bioethicsts and Undermine Bioethicists” for tackling an important and often neglected topic in bioethics: the challenges that our under-resourced colleagues face in conducting research and contributing to the literature in bioethics.…

September 28, 2017

Social Justice Trumps Fancy Tech In This Week’s Bioethics News

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

Some weeks when I think about what my blog will be about, there are very few relevant items in the news.…

August 22, 2017

Double Dutch euthanasia evokes sympathy through age and romance

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

O true apothecary!
Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die. – Romeo & Juliet, Act 5, Scene 3

In a scene reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet, a Dutch couple were voluntarily euthanized together after sharing their final kiss.…

March 29, 2017

I am a refugee, an immigrant and an American

Our Managing Editor, Bela Fishbeyn published a very moving account of her experiences as an immigrant to the United States. This highlights the schizophrenic nature of our nation’s attitudes and history towards immigrants and refugees.…

March 3, 2017

BioethicsTV: Communication Challenges

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

Chicago Med (Season 2, Episode 15) focused on problems with communication These ranged from offered a guide to when not to work with the media, violating HIPAA, to talking to students about dangerous treatments.…

February 21, 2017

Ethics, refugees, and the President’s Executive Order

by Nancy Kass, ScD
There are different political philosophies about the responsibilities of states regarding whether to accept refugees. While there is a political philosophy that might be called Nationalist in perspective that says, essentially, “Not my Problem,” the predominant philosophy globally is different.…

December 14, 2016

The Ethics of Climate Change Activism: Fear vs. Reality

STUDENT VOICES By: Chelsea Zantay This essay is in response to the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs video clip “Global Ethics Forum: Ethics Matter: A Conversation with Bill McKibben.”   Often when a problem is too big or too scary we throw up our hands and announce that “there is nothing we can do” … More The Ethics of Climate Change Activism: Fear vs. Reality

Published Articles (6)

American Journal of Bioethics: Volume 17 Issue 11 - Nov 2017

The Rescinding of DACA: What Should Healthcare Professionals and Academics Do? (and Why?) Mark G. Kuczewski & Danish Zaidi

American Journal of Bioethics: Volume 17 Issue 10 - Oct 2017

A Question of Social Justice: How Policies of Profit Negate Engagement of Developing World Bioethicists and Undermine Global Bioethics Subrata Chattopadhyay, Catherine Myser, Tiffany Moxham & Raymond De Vries

American Journal of Bioethics: Volume 17 Issue 9 - Sep 2017

A Bridge Back to the Future: Public Health Ethics, Bioethics, and Environmental Ethics Lisa M. Lee

American Journal of Bioethics: Volume 17 Issue 9 - Sep 2017

We Can and Must Rebuild the Bridges of Interdisciplinary Bioethics Darryl R. J. Macer

American Journal of Bioethics: Volume 17 Issue 5 - May 2017

Ethics, Refugees, and the President's Executive Order Nancy E. Kass

American Journal of Bioethics: Volume 16 Issue 10 - Oct 2016

Governance of Transnational Global Health Research Consortia and Health Equity Bridget Pratt & Adnan A. Hyder

News (55)

August 3, 2018 3:00 am

Growing homophobia will fuel the HIV epidemic, experts fear (CNN)

“Our concern at the moment is that there is a shift towards the right,” said Shaun Mellors, director of knowledge and influence at the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, who coordinates the Elton John Foundation’s rapid response grants. “It’s all bubbling up, and it’s all increasing at the moment in a really scary way.”

August 2, 2018 6:31 am

What Is a Genetically Modified Crop? A European Ruling Sows Confusion (The New York Times)

Mushrooms that don’t brown. Wheat that fights off disease. Tomatoes with a longer growing season. All of these crops are made possible by a gene-editing technology called Crispr-cas9. But now its future has been clouded by the European Union’s top court. This week, the court ruled that gene-edited crops are genetically modified organisms, and therefore must comply with the tough regulations that apply to plants made with genes from other species. Many scientists responded to the decision with dismay, predicting that countries in the developing world would follow Europe’s lead, blocking useful gene-edited crops from reaching farms and marketplaces. The ruling may also curtail exports from the United States, which has taken a more lenient view of gene-edited foods.

July 23, 2018 9:00 am

Humans are altering seasonal climate cycles worldwide (Nature)

Nearly four decades of global temperature data collected by satellites reveal the atmospheric fingerprint of climate change.

July 18, 2018 3:21 am

‘Frightening’ drug-resistant strain of typhoid spreads in Pakistan (Science)

An antibiotic-defying strain of the bacterium that causes typhoid fever is gaining a foothold in Pakistan, leading some researchers to warn that it could turn the clock back 70 years, when surviving the disease was more a matter of luck than treatment. In the past 6 months, more than 2000 people in Pakistan have been infected with extensively drug-resistant (XDR) Salmonella typhi, according to the National Institute of Health in Islamabad. Only one oral antibiotic, azithromycin, works against the XDR strain, and the other options—expensive intravenous (IV) drugs—are impractical for widespread use in Pakistan and other low-income nations. S. typhi experts worry that the outbreak could soon spill into other countries.

July 10, 2018 3:00 am

Iceland's ethical debate: Should DNA donors be told if they are predisposed to a deadly disease? (CBC Radio)

If you knew someone was genetically predisposed to cancer, would you tell them? Dr. Kari Stefansson would. The Icelandic neurologist is the CEO of deCODE Genetics, a company that has collected the DNA of nearly half the country’s population. Using the company’s data, he said that he can pinpoint 1,600 people at risk of deadly cancers in Iceland. The government, however, won’t let him.

July 5, 2018 7:56 am

Ageing Japan: Robots' role in future of elder care (Reuters)

Robots have the run of Tokyo’s Shin-tomi nursing home, which uses 20 different models to care for its residents. The Japanese government hopes it will be a model for harnessing the country’s robotics expertise to help cope with a swelling elderly population and dwindling workforce.

June 22, 2018 9:00 am

U.S. Announces Its Withdrawal From U.N. Human Rights Council (NPR)

After more than a year of complaints and warnings — some subtle and others a little less so — the Trump administration has announced that the United States is withdrawing from the United Nations Human Rights Council. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley announced the decision in a joint statement Tuesday.

June 19, 2018 6:00 am

Soccer Fans, Don’t Root for a Team Based on Genetics (LeapsMag)

23andMe is taking a lot of heat as one of the DNA aggregators whose databases may not be secure from prying third-party eyes. That is a huge issue, but the company is engaging in even more troubling behavior—using genetics to sponsor racism.

May 31, 2018 9:00 am

Where Did Ireland Go? Abortion Vote Stuns Those on Both Sides (Washington Post)

Divorce is legal. So is same-sex marriage. And now abortion will be, too. Ireland has redefined itself in a remarkably short span of time.

May 29, 2018 5:49 pm

Fewer babies were born in Brazil amid Zika outbreak, study says (CNN)

Researchers led by Marcia C. Castro, a professor of demography at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, used Brazilian data on births, fetal deaths and hospitalizations related to abortion complications during 2010-16 to forecast births from September 2015 to December 2016, the period of the Zika epidemic. Though there were 119,095 fewer births than expected, no changes in fetal deaths or increases in abortion-related hospitalizations were seen.

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