“Family Balancing”

2019 ◽  
pp. 108-122
Author(s):  
Robert L. Klitzman
Keyword(s):  
Positive Selection ◽  
Ethics Committees ◽  
Sex Selection ◽  
Slippery Slope ◽  
Embryo Selection ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Free Standing ◽  
Family Balancing ◽  
Blue Eyes ◽  
Near Future

Doctors and patients confront decisions of whether to perform “positive selection”—to choose embryos for various socially desired characteristics—most commonly sex but also deafness and dwarfism. Physicians routinely screen embryos for sex not only to prevent the transmission of serious sex-associated diseases (e.g., autism) but also for “family balancing”—though differing widely in how they define this concept. University-affiliated clinics tend to consult formal external ethics committees about these issues, while free-standing private clinics do not. While many countries explicitly prohibit social sex selection, US providers regularly perform it, raising concerns about a possible “slippery slope” toward eugenics. In the near future, screening for genes associated with other non-medical “desired traits” such as blond hair and blue eyes will probably also be developed and requested. Providers and patients wrestle with whether certain types of embryo selection might restrict a child’s “open future” and ability to make key choices for him- or herself, as well as how to uphold the child’s best interests.

Pre-conceptual sex selection

2014 ◽  
Vol 155 (46) ◽  
pp. 1815-1819
Author(s):  
Máté Julesz
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
The United States ◽  
Criminal Code ◽  
Sex Selection ◽  
Reproductive Justice ◽  
Medically Assisted Procreation ◽  
Family Balancing ◽  
European Health ◽  
Selection For ◽  
The Catholic Church

According to Article 14 of the Oviedo Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine of the Council of Europe, the use of techniques of medically assisted procreation shall not be allowed for the purpose of choosing a future child’s sex, unless serious hereditary sex-related disease is to be avoided. In Israel and the United States of America, pre-conceptual sex selection for the purpose of family balancing is legal. The European health culture does not take reproductive justice for part of social justice. From this aspect, the situation is very similar in China and India. Reproductive liberty is opposed by the Catholic Church, too. According to the Catholic Church, medical grounds may not justify pre-conceptual sex selection, though being bioethically less harmful than family balancing for social reasons. In Hungary, according to Section 170 of the Criminal Code, pre-conceptual sex selection for the purpose of family balancing constitutes a crime. At present, the Hungarian legislation is in full harmony with the Oviedo Convention, enacted in Hungary in 2002 (Act No. 6 of 2002). Orv. Hetil., 2014, 155(46), 1815–1819.

Structure and Substance: Developing a Practical and Effective Prohibition on Discrimination under the European Convention on Human Rights

2003 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan Small
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Equal Weight ◽  
Free Standing ◽  
Substantive Equality ◽  
European Court ◽  
Full Effect ◽  
Indirect Discrimination ◽  
Exercise Of Discretion ◽  
Near Future

Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights has not had any real measure of success. This may be explained in part by its lack of free-standing status and in part by the unwillingness of Convention bodies to give it full effect. All too common to European human rights jurisprudence is the Court's exercise of discretion to refrain from ruling on the discrimination claim when another substantive article has been breached. Common too is the failure to apply rigorously standards of interpretation which have rendered the article weak in terms of a substantive equality guarantee. Protocol 12 seeks to overcome these difficulties, by creating an equality guarantee with equal weight as other Convention rights. The Protocol is not likely to enter into force in the near future. In the meantime, the European Court of Human Rights appears to be making efforts to strengthen the Article 14 jurisprudence. First, the Court seems to be showing some increased willingness to deal with the discrimination claim. Second, the prohibited grounds have been extended, in terms that invite comment on the rationale for prohibited grounds. Third, a claim based on indirect discrimination has finally succeeded. Each of these disparate developments, taken together, signal attempts on the part of the Court to take Article 14 seriously. It is suggested that these attempts, while important, lack principled reasoning, and that domestic courts should take seriously the task of supplying principles on which the Court can rely for guidance.

The future of national tourism organisations marketing functions – there is no future?

2019 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Hay
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Friendship Groups ◽  
The Future ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Marketing Information ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Near Future

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of two micro trends on the future marketing functions of national tourism organisations (NTOs): the increasing power of individuals and the irreverence of NTO’s current marketing functions. Design/methodology/approach Through a discussion of the literature driving the two identified micro-trends, a number of supportive sub-micro trends were also identified and explored. Findings The paper concludes that NTO’s have failed to recognise the growing distrust of monolithic organisations. NTO’s seem to be more concerned about their own survival, rather than providing a service to both their citizens and tourists. Also NTO’s have failed to acknowledge that tourists are much more confident in making their own decisions, based on marketing information from their own trusted “closed friendship groups”, rather than relying on NTO’s. Research limitations/implications The paper is based on a discussion of issues from only two micro-trends, but tourist decision-making processes may be more complex than suggested. Practical implications The paper concludes that in the near future there will be an increasing rejection of NTO’s marketing information, and in the longer term this may result in the demise of NTO’s. However, if NTO’s are to survive, it suggests two actions they could take to ensure their future relevance to both its citizens and tourists. Social implications Questioning whether national/state organisations always act in the best interests of its citizens, challenges the trust in NTO’s. The paper suggests that NTO’s recognise that their power relationships are more strongly linked to ideals of nationhood and endorsement by their international peers, rather than providing services to tourists. Originality/value This paper questions the implicate assumption that NTO’s should be a trusted source of marketing information. It suggests that NTO’s have failed to recognise the changing methods tourist use to help in their decision making.

Fabrication of Metallic Nanocomponents by Forging of Ni3Al-Nanoparticles.

2012 ◽  
Vol 1412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Landefeld Andreas ◽  
Rösler Joachim
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
High Strength ◽  
Complex Structures ◽  
Free Standing ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Upset Forging ◽  
Nanoscale Fabrication ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Near Future ◽  
Very High

ABSTRACTThe trend to manufacture components reduced in size at the micro- and nano-scale is obvious and is becoming more and more the state of art in designing actuators, sensors and chips. In recent years, nanoscale fabrication has developed considerably, but the fabrication of freestanding nanosize components is still a great challenge. The fabrication of metallic nanocomponents utilizing three basic steps is demonstrated here. First, metallic alloys are used as factories to produce a metallic raw stock of nano-objects/nanoparticles in large numbers. These objects are then isolated from the powder containing thousands of such objects inside a scanning electron microscope using manipulators, and placed on a micro-anvil or a die. Finally, the shape of the individual nano-object is changed by nanoforging using a microhammer to get specific geometries such as discs and more complex components such as gears and wheels in the near future. The almost cubic particles are essentially defect-free, therefore, provide very high strength (σ>2500MPa) in combination with excellent formability (|ϕ|>1,6). There are two approaches for forming these small particles. Upset forging is used to forge small discs (height<100nm) and to shape the nanoparticle in specific areas. Press forging into nano-dies is used to forge more complex structures. In this way free-standing, high-strength, metallic nanoobjects may be shaped into components with dimensions in the 100 nm range. By assembling such nano-components, high-performance microsystems can be fabricated, which are truly in the micrometre scale (the size ratio of a system to its component is typically 10:1).

scholarly journals Sex-selective Abortion Bans: Anti-immigrant or Anti-abortion?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sital Kalantry
Keyword(s):  
Asian Americans ◽  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sex Selection ◽  
Asian Immigrants ◽  
Small Subset ◽  
International Affairs ◽  
Selective Abortion ◽  
Family Balancing ◽  
Sex Selective Abortion

In the last five years, over half of the state legislatures in the United States have considered banning sex-selective abortion because of the (false) belief that Asian Americans are disproportionately giving birth to more boys than are European Americans. Supported by the data that applies to a very small subset of Asian Americans, proponents of the law stereotype Asian Americans by assuming that their birthing patterns are the same as those of people in India and China.Because of the undue focus on Asian immigrants in the discussions of sex selection bans, the real conversation that should occur in the American democratic system is short-circuited. States legislators and voters fail to discuss whether or not sex selection is a gateway to eugenics concerns, whether or not sex selection perpetuates gender stereotypes, and whether or not sex selection should be used for family balancing. Any bans on sex-selective abortion should take these issues into account and should not be based on misinformed views about the practices of Asian immigrants in the United States.Published: Sital Kalantry, "Sex-Selective Abortion Bans: Anti-Immigration or Anti-Abortion?", 16 Georgetown Journal of International Affairs (2015)

SEXISM, SEX SELECTION AND ‘FAMILY BALANCING’

2008 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 369-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Wilkinson
Keyword(s):  
Sex Selection ◽  
Family Balancing

Protection of the Health of Newborns

2019 ◽  
pp. 266-292
Author(s):  
Robert Van Howe
Keyword(s):  
Ethics Committees ◽  
The State ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Medical Facility ◽  
Medical Facilities

Infants lack capacity, so the state assigns parents the authority to grant permission on behalf of their child for interventions that are routine, non-emergent interventions, or emergent/life-preserving. For the infant who is severely compromised medically and for whom any intervention would be considered futile, a dialectic between preserving “life at all costs” and the infant’s interest in avoiding unnecessary suffering emerges, prompting potential schisms between parents, physicians, the medical facility, and the state—each of which brings its own biases. Physicians are charged with compassionately providing accurate disclosure that is free of bias and refraining from exerting coercive influence. Parents need to be allowed the space and support to thoughtfully deliberate. Medical facilities, through ethics committees, can provide a path to resolving conflicts without resorting to adjudication in courts. Deliberation should focus on the principles of the infant’s best interests and substitute judgment.

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