Ethics & Biotechnology

"Ethics and Biotechnology" grapples with the moral dilemmas posed by biotechnology. From plant breeding, agriculture, animal breeding and experimentation to human genetics and genetic engineering, biotechnology promises the capacity to manipulate living things and the power to manufacture wholly new life forms. In this collection of essays, internationally renowned scholars explore the ethics of "playing God" in the field of biotechnology.
The book covers the full range of moral dilemmas posed by biotechnology, from the smallest cells to animals and the engineering of human beings. The contributors are drawn from the fields of philosophy, agricultural economics, medicine, political theory, biology, embryology, social policy and theology. They present a thoroughly multidisciplinary and up-to-date survey of the ethical problems in this important and expanding field.

The development of biotechnology has produced nothing short of a revolution, both in our capacity to manipulate living things from single plant cells to human nature itself, but also to manufacture brand new life forms. This power to shape and create forms of life has sometimes been described as the power to "play God" and this book is about the ethics of "playing God" in the field of biotechnology. International scholars cover moral dilemmas posed by biotechnology, from the smallest cells through animals to the engineering of human beings.

Chapter 1 Modern Errors, Ancient Virtues, Stephen R.L. Clark; Chapter 2 Biotechnology and Agriculture, David Colman; Chapter 3 Genetic Engineering and the North-South Divide, Søren Holm; Chapter 4 The Fruits of Body-Builders’ Labour, Hillel Steiner; Chapter 5 The Moral Status of Extracorporeal Embryos, Bonnie Steinbock; Chapter 6 IVF and Manipulating the Human Embryo, Susan Kimber; Chapter 7 Manipulation of the Germ-Line, Janice Wood-Harper; Chapter 8 How to Assess the Consequences of Genetic Engineering?, Heta Häyry; Chapter 9 Who Owns MO?, Charles A. Erin; Chapter 10 What ‘Bugs’ Genetic Engineers about Bioethics, Peter R. Wheale, Ruth M. McNally; Chapter 11 Categorical Objections to Genetic Engineering —A Critique, Matti Häyry; Chapter 12 Biotechnology, Friend or FOE? Ethics and Controls, John Harris; Chapter 13 Genetic Engineering and Ethics in Germany, Ulla Wessels; Chapter 14 Genetic Engineering in Theology and Theological Ethics, Anthony Dyson;

Anthony Dyson