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The Ethics of Embryo Research: Not as Easy as It Sounds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2021

George J. Annas
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Extract

Mark Twain once said of Wagner's music, “It's not as bad as it sounds.” Likewise, it may be said of Peter Singer and Helga Kuhse's stroll through the issues involving embryo research: “It's not as easy as it sounds.”

Today it seems clear that Aldous Huxley's version of a Brave New World is much closer to the mark than George Orwell's 1984. We will not have to be dragged into a technologically dominated future by a totalitarian government; we will go willingly, cheering almost any change as “better” and accepting science as always “improving” on nature. This childlike faith in science is at the heart of Prof. Singer and Dr. Kuhse's hymn to embryo research. They seem to believe that embryo research will not only lead to the prevention and cure of genetic disorders but also to a cure for cancer, and cultured tissues for transplantation. Even if one accepts this rosy view, the acquisition of important scientific knowledge is only a necessary, not a sufficient justification for experimentation.

Type
Part I: New Reproductive Technologies
Information
Law, Medicine and Healthcare , Volume 14 , Issue 3-4 , September 1986 , pp. 138 - 148
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 1986

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References

Annas, G.J., What Should We Do with Surplus Potential Humans?, Washington Post, March 31, 1985, at Kl.Google Scholar
See G.J. Annas, The Baby Broker Boom, Hastings Center Report, June 1986.Google Scholar
See J. Robertson, Extracorporeal Embryos and the Abortion Debate, Journal of Contemporary Health Law & Policy 2: 53 (1986).Google Scholar
Kass, L.R., Toward a More Natural Science (New York: Free Press, 1985).Google Scholar
I. Kennedy, Let the Law Take on the Test-Tube, Times (London), May 26, 1984, at 6.Google Scholar
See, e.g., P. Singer, Animal Liberation (New York Review, 1975).Google Scholar
See Kass, supra note 4, at 57–79.Google Scholar
Annas, G.J., Embryo Research, Lancet, March 2, 1985, at 522.Google Scholar
Annas, G.J., Making Babies Without Sex: The Law and the Profits, American Journal of Public Health 74: 1415–17 (1984).Google ScholarPubMed