Stem Cells, Biotechnology, and Human Rights: Implications for a Posthuman Future

Lauritzen, Paul

doi:10.1353/hcr.2005.0026

Cited by 17 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Landgren emphasizes the problems associated with using one human life to save another-issues that have had a natural place in many national debates on the use of hESCs . Lauritzen (2005) even states that the hESC debate is choreographed, "all too familiar to the dance of abortion politics" (p 26). However, in Sweden, these invitations to a 'human dignity' discussion were met with resistance in the daily newspapers.…”

Section: Heated Debate 2001: Expectations For An Ethically Contested mentioning

confidence: 99%

Stem Cells between Ethics and Entrepreneurship: How a Contested Bio-Object Became ‘Normal’

Ideland

2014

Studies in Media and Communication

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Human Embryonic Stem Cell (hESC) research has been described by many scholars as a controversial issue. However, in Swedish media reporting, hESC research is no longer described as contested. The aim of this paper is to explore how this research field has been normalized through discursive shifts which have had effects in terms of the lack of debate around novel biotechnologies.The article compares the reporting of Swedish newspapers on hESC research during year 2001 and onwards. The reason for this selection is that during 2001 there was a heated debate around hESC. After that point, media reporting is characterized by a lack of debate. Therefore, Swedish media reporting makes an interesting case for understanding how an ethical controversy can end. To conceptualize the contemporary lack of media reporting and debate, this paper analyzes discourses operating in news media reports during and after 2001 through studying how different researcher/subject positions and hESC bio-identities are articulated during different times, and how these open up for different issues to be, or not to be, reported and discussed. Laclau and Mouffe's discourse theory, as well as a theoretical framework of bio-objectification inspire the analysis.The result shows how ethical and political discourses about hESC in the Swedish news media have been replaced with engineering and economical discourses. The main point is that this new discursive formation has closed opportunities for oppositional ways of talking about hESC research, for example, as an ethical issue or an area for political debate and legislation. Instead, scientific-technological-therapeutic progress has been bound to a belief in economic progress. The final part of this article discusses how this discursive change can be understood in the perspective of changing relations between the public and academia, but also how dissolving positions can open up hegemonic discourses and challenge fixed meanings.

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Section: Heated Debate 2001: Expectations For An Ethically Contested mentioning

confidence: 99%

Stem Cells between Ethics and Entrepreneurship: How a Contested Bio-Object Became ‘Normal’

Ideland

2014

Studies in Media and Communication

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“…For example, it is careful to begin seeing the embryo as an object, material that can be manipulated and selected at will, whose individual contents are of more interest than the whole. 50 And in some ways, by "bringing the embryo out of the darkness of the womb and into the light" of the laboratory, assisted reproductive technologies make acceptable manipulation and selection. 51 In all of this, however, it is important to avoid objectifying the future child.…”

Section: Societal Claimsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Selecting Barrenness: The Use of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis by Congenitally Infertile Women to Select for Infertility

Shah

2010

Human Reproduction & Genetic Ethics

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Congenitally infertile women such as those with Turner syndrome or Mayer Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome have available the technologies of oocyte harvesting, cryropreservation, in-vitro fertilization, and gestational surrogacy in order to have genetically related offspring. Since congenital infertility results in a variety of experiences that impacts on nearly every aspect of a person's life, in the future it is possible that these women might desire a congenitally infertile child through the use of preimplantation genetic diagnosis so as to share this common bond. While infertility results in a relatively normal quality of life, it is morally wrong to necessitate the future use of infertility services with its variable success rate on a child. Also, whereas the woman has fundamental reproductive autonomy, she lacks the substantive autonomy regarding the specific characteristics of her child. Finally, the infertile community does exhibit a strong presence, but it lacks characteristics that define it as a culture.

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“…An illustration of the problem I perceive is provided by this quote from Lauritzen. 21 Discussing adult stem cells, he writes…”

Section: Escaping From Baseless Speculationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancement: are ethicists excessively influenced by baseless speculations?

Jones

2006

Med Humanities

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Most commentators draw a sharp distinction between therapy and enhancement, applauding therapy and rejecting enhancement. Not only is this distinction unclear but enhancement is often seen in grandiose terms in which human beings are radically transformed. Such far-reaching visions are then used to reject current procedures such as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. To overcome this highly problematic impasse, enhancement has been divided into three categories, ranging from the health-related enhancement of category 1, through the non-health-related enhancement of category 2, to the transhumanism or posthumanism of category 3. Arguably, most enhancements are of the category 1 variety, and hence closely related to treatment. Also, we are already enhanced, when compared with our forebears. It is only when we accept this and dispense with baseless speculation will we be in a position to conduct ethical discussions within a realistic framework.

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Stem Cells, Biotechnology, and Human Rights: Implications for a Posthuman Future

Cited by 17 publications

References 23 publications

Stem Cells between Ethics and Entrepreneurship: How a Contested Bio-Object Became ‘Normal’

Stem Cells between Ethics and Entrepreneurship: How a Contested Bio-Object Became ‘Normal’

Selecting Barrenness: The Use of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis by Congenitally Infertile Women to Select for Infertility

Enhancement: are ethicists excessively influenced by baseless speculations?

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