Neuropsychological, Social, and Ethical Issues in Functional Neurosurgery

1997 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 38-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary J. Granger ◽  
Elizabeth S. Adams ◽  
Christina Björkman ◽  
Don Gotterbarn ◽  
Diana D. Juettner ◽  
...  

1996 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-134
Author(s):  
Michael M.J. Lin

“A wise man can hear profit in the wind.”—Pel, quoting the Ferengi Rules of AcquisitionThe expansive biotechnology field includes many facets of medical research, from drug discovery and design, to gene therapy and the diagnosis of genetic diseases, to the use of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) evidence to identify individuals and genetic characteristics. The biotechnology industry requires a readily available supply of biological raw materials; much of current research is founded on cells, tissues, organs, fetal tissues and placentas, and other samples derived from human donors. However, this growing need for raw materials presents many economic, social, and ethical issues to society, researchers, and the existing legal regime. Furthermore, because courts and legislatures fail to provide a clear national rule regarding biological materials, the resulting legal uncertainties chill research and investment. Although very few cases address property rights in a person’s organs, tissues, and genetic material, the issues of autonomy and privacy involved evoke analogies to deep-seated issues such as slavery, the freezing of embryos, and abortion.


2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucien Hanssen ◽  
Tim Vos ◽  
Maartje Langeslag ◽  
Bart Walhout

Small particles, big issues. An issue analysis of the Dutch national dialogue nanotechnology Small particles, big issues. An issue analysis of the Dutch national dialogue nanotechnology In 2010 the Dutch government sponsored a national dialogue on nanotechnology. A wide range of activities was organised to bring scientific and societal views into this national debate. Issue analysis showed that risk issues concerning health and environment got most attention. Good legislation and ethical motives also came up as prominent topics in discussions. Next to issue analysis, we analysed the type of organizations that orchestrated the different projects and we looked at possibilities to bring in public voices. It turned out that there is no difference in public outreach or involvement among professional media, civil society, or academic organizations. Civil society organizations often set social and ethical issues on the agenda. Due to a lack of capacity and expertise their actual participation in dialogue projects was limited. To strengthen a more robust societal perspective in further national dialogues one could invest in capacity building for civil society organisations.


Author(s):  
Alan Marshall

The 2001 terrorist attacks in the USA and the 2011 seismic events in Japan have brought into sharp relief the vulnerabilities involved in storing nuclear waste on the land’s surface. Nuclear engineers and waste managers are deciding that disposing nuclear waste deep underground is the preferred management option. However, deep disposal of nuclear waste is replete with enormous technical uncertainties. A proposed solution to protect against both the technical vagaries of deep disposal and the dangers of surface events is to store the nuclear waste at shallow depths underground. This paper explores social and ethical issues that are relevant to such shallow storage, including security motivations, intergenerational equity, nuclear stigma, and community acceptance. One of the main ethical questions to emerge is whether it is right for the present generation to burden local communities and future generations with these problems since neither local peoples nor future people have sanctioned the industrial and military processes that have produced the waste in the first place.


Author(s):  
Brendan Luyt ◽  
Chu Keong Lee

In this chapter we discuss some of the social and ethical issues associated with social information retrieval. Using the work of Habermas we argue that social networking is likely to exacerbate already disturbing trends towards the fragmentation of society and a corresponding decline reduction in social diversity. Such a situation is not conducive to developing a healthy, democratic society. Following the tradition of critical theorists of technology, we conclude with a call for responsible and aware technological design with more attention paid to the values embedded in new technological systems.


2011 ◽  
Vol 30 (01) ◽  
pp. 65-70
Author(s):  
Amy L. Fletcher

Reviewing the work of Lynton Caldwell, Robert Blank, and Andrea Bonnicksen is both a privilege and a challenge. These three scholars rank among the key figures in the development of biopolicy as a legitimate research and teaching subfield within political science. Each of them worked in academia, on significant bioethical advisory boards, and with policymaking entities, and also contributed to numerous externally funded research projects. Across long and prolific careers, Caldwell, Blank, and Bonnicksen engaged seriously with the political, social and ethical issues raised by significant advances in many bio-scientific domains. This essay analyzes several of their works across two broad themes: 1) the development of the subfields of biopolitics and biopolicy, and 2) the tension between science policy and democratic governance. While each of them wrote significant and well-received books, the focus here is on insights to be gleaned from an idiosyncratic selection of their scholarly articles across the time period, 1966 to 2007. To borrow Michel Foucault's term, this brief and necessarily selective archaeology of the published journal record nevertheless demonstrates the significance, durability and prescience of the authors' insights. (I expect that at least one, if not all three, of these authors might raise objections to the mention of Foucault, but the term “archaeology” in this instance is apt.)


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