Thursday 11 October 2012

Bioethics [All That Matters Series]- Donna Dickenson

 

This is shaping up to be a fine series of short but thought provoking books.

Donna Dickenson tackles the vast and complex topic of Bioethics in a passionate but not overtly partisan way. She nails her colours to mast straight away: we are going too far down the road of having blind faith in the 'medical improvements for all' motives of modern science and we are losing sight of important ethical issues, particularly as ever advancing technology is enabling us to do more and more in the area of bio-engineering and pharmaceutical development.  She does balance this though with persuasive, progressive argument, strongly pointing out the dangers of modern bio-technology research and development in an overtly commercial environment, where the possibility of eugenic policies are realisable in an increasingly un-democratic, 'profit-regardless-of-all-other-considerations' political and economic culture.

In fact the power of Big Pharma in particular is frightening and at the end of this book, one cannot help feel we are sleepwalking into a divided world of genetic engineering and medical support for the rich, and a chaotic free-for-all for the rest...and that will be regardless of whether you live in the West or a developing nation.

So in a concise little book Dickenson covers areas such as stem-cell and embryonic research, third world surrogacy, body enhancement and drug development and availability as well as considering the moral and religious issues wrapped up in the whole, most fundamental issue of who should we trust to experiment and devise ways to treat- and improve- our bodies.  The truly scary conclusion to it all, and what crops up repeatedly throughout this book, is that in the 21st century money and commercial profit alone is driving it all, and when it comes to making a profit in this world of neoliberal, free-market capitalism, ethics and more metaphysical questions regarding is what we are doing actually right and equitable in the long-term, hardly get a look-in.

This book is a great introduction to ways of thinking to put that right.  Give it a read.

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