Ethics

I'm new to the forum, and I apologize if this topic has been brought up way too much. Anyway, I am writing a research paper, and I need the accuracy rate of animal experimentation as well as a source to back that information up. Can anyone help me with that one, please? Thanks in advance!

I assume that many will already have read that the often cited paper linking autism to vaccines has retracted. Little to debate there. However an interesting point was made by the editor of the Lancet (the journal in which it was published) made an interesting point: What do you think? http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/did-the-media-inflame-the-vaccine-autism-link/?hp

I'll get the article we I find it. I believe that this only promotes sexs. It's basicilly saying you won't get pregant so go have sex. What are your opinoins on this topic. Open discussion

Are pharmaceutical companies disregarding the rights of patients with the drugs they make? - I know that there are no laws making a person take any medicine involuntarily but suppose a change in mental behavior was suggested by doctors and also desired by the patient. What if a person took a psychoactive drug, as suggested by his doctors, changed but did not change the way he anticipated or wanted to? - I have heard many stories of how people feel zombie-ish, their lives distorted, because of the drugs they have been prescribed. If this change considered irreversible then is that not taking away an individual’s right to live their life the way they want to? - The ch…

I would like to begin with an analogy. Many auto manufacturers recommend changing the oil every 5000 miles. The Jiffy Lube chains, where you can go for a quick oil change, recommends every 3000 miles. Relative to the cost of oil changes, the 3000 mile is more expensive over time, but we are told it will reduce the risk of engine wear. This valid risk concern has been successful, with many people not willing to change their oil every 5000 miles, since they can see the risk. We could lower this risk even more if we change oil every 2000 miles. But there is still some risk even in this. Maybe we can change the oil every day. But even that has a risk. It also starts to a…

I'm sorry if this has been discussed in another thread: I was inspired by a lecture by the great Dr. Robert Weinberg (available online) to ask, given that science has advanced to the point that it is feasible to obtain the genetic profile for any given individual, what will be the most appropriate way to handle an individual's genetic information in the near future. For example, does an employer have the right to know if a job candidate has a particular genetic mutation which in some way might affect his/her ability to perform the job required of them (for instance, a mutation associated with increased susceptibility for a particular cancer)?

That say twin does crime like robbery or B&E than how will the police find the right twin that has the same DNA ,fingerprint and looks ? And if cloning of people where possible this is other problem how would find the person who has the same DNA and fingerprint ?

I'd call it stupidity personally. And people seeing things in a Black/White, either/or fashion, which is unreasonable. I happily go to an "alternative" therapist, for the simple reason that he can fix some things that western medicine can't. OTOH, if I get an infection and need antibiotics, I go straight to the quack and get some. The correct course of treatment depends on what is wrong. It also means trying something different if the current treatment isn't working.

I need a working model of a dialysis machine...plz give me any ideas....

I was watching some show on TV where they were discussing topics around the use of scanning a person's mind to see the effectiveness of a given advert or commercial. As I was watching it I felt slightly uncomfortable by the concept. Especially as we advance technologically and scientifically how affective can they make these things? Will there be a point where it becomes more mind control when they can trigger any response they want? even if they can't totally do that, is there a line? What about politics, the media, everything, any message could be manipulated. Maybe I am going to the extreme here but what do you think?

I was reading a book review on the new book :"The Noble Lie" by psychotherapist Gary Greenberg. http://www.overcomingbias.com/2008/09/noble-lies.html He has some interesting cases of 'diseases' that are recognised as such but which are not diseases by any scientific definition. Classic example : alcoholism. There is nothing in science to make this a disease. It has no clear causative agent. No pathogen. There is no remedy. The decision to call it a disease appears to be purely a moral, not scientific, decision. It has proved to be a very good decision, helping millions of people - but is not science. Homosexuality is the opposite. It was once def…

This is a subject that has recently concerned me. From my perspective, I do not believe governments have any right to force people to take medication from a service they have a monopoly on. This is regardless of the possible danges and benefits associated with the use of this. The purpose of this thread is to help get a few answers to the following questions from forum members: 1. In your assessment are there any medical benefits from fluoridation of water? 2. Are there dangers involved with fluoridating the water supply? 3. Do the dangers outweigh the benefits or vice versa? 4. In your own point of view, should the fluoridation by enforced mandate of our politic…

Live interview on the sunday evening update show here. These week is the cryonicist Brian Wowk. If this embeding doesnt work then its at imminst.org/tv Ask your questions here live. Discuss it here in the science forums. <object id="utv_o_727252" height="320" width="400" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"><param value="http://www.ustream.tv/flash/live/107692" name="movie" /><param value="true" name="allowFullScreen" /><param value="always" name="allowScriptAccess" /><param value="transparent" name="wmode" /><param value="viewcount=true&autoplay=false&brand=embed&" name="flashvars" /><e…

Parasitic in origin, I mean. Recently I've read a few articles about how toxoplasmosa parasites might influence human behavior. The author of the linked article even suggests that the prevalence of toxoplasmosis in various countries could help explain certain aspects of those countries' cultures. In other words, a mind-altering parasite might be influencing human culture. I'm not opening this thread to discuss how feasible that is, however. The author of the study admits that this work is preliminary and there's a lot more to be done to prove anything. The thing that got me wondering, however, is this: What if it's true? Suppose we discover that numerous cultu…

Should Marijuana be asubscribed for medicinal purposes?

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iLJ2gzRRfTYc_YuS7r1yuwnmne-gD970K3CG0 This article is a comedy and tragedy. The Pope wants to run away from modernity, while criticizing other superstitious beliefs.

Culture has affected evolution tremendously. No longer do superior biological adaptations and mutations ensure survival, it is culture now that determines how long an individual will live. We have come to a point in science where we know how superior traits come into existence, its though mutations and genes. Since we have not evolved much since the dawn or agriculture why can’t we help future humans by altering them genetically? We can make our offspring faster, smarter and stronger than we were. Natural selection no longer weeds out the weak and we now have hugh occurances of degenerate genes in our population. We are literally in an evolutionary stand still. If our lim…

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090310/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_stem_cells_40 Discuss

So I've been thinking about abortion after a recent thread, and I realized the debate can come down to a simple question: at what point does an embryo get the "right" to stay alive? In the interests of moral consistency we'd have to justify our decision, of course, rather than just saying "at x number of weeks into the pregnancy" or something. Here's three justifications for three different views: Only those capable of feeling pain have a right to not suffer. Ideally followers of this view would determine when an embryo begins to feel pain and then disallow abortion after this point. All "humans" do, regardless of whether they're an embryo or a 35-year-old ma…

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29489602/ What do you think? Too far already? Not even close to where we want to be?

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN0323176620080103 Apparently, Doctors use the placebo with their patients more than I thought. It is common knowledge that it works, so are there any ethical problems with using this method?

Is there a world-wide established code of ethics that all biomedical workers and researchers need to keep? For instance, would it be illegal for me to grab mice from my attic, breed them, and then use them for experimentation? And if I did, would it be unethical if my experiment killed 100 mice in day? a week? an hour? What are the ethical standards for conducting scientific experiments?

How many of you here are familiar with this? In a nutshell, a designer baby is a genetically engineered human, or more specifically one that has its various features preordained before they were born. We have already mapped out the human genome and we know the genes that make up the various physical traits. But then the question is, would you want this to happen? After all, by choosing their physical traits, you are in a sense deciding their future, and even their children's future as well. Also, many of the same genes that determine physical traits are also responsible for your brain chemistry, and thus your mental traits for that matter (Grandin 76). This is se…

This was something that popped into my head today as I was reading something on modern medicine in my local library. I know virtually nothing about modern medicine so as I was reading these books I was fascinated at how much scientific work was put into proving that what the medical practitioners use actually worked (or explain why such and such doesn't work)! But as I was thinking about it, you hear a lot of stuff in pop media and other various sources promoting various "alternative" medicine such as prayer, acupuncture, homeopathy, etc. And in many countries, including here in the U.S., there is a wide acceptance of it by the general public. But what I'm wondering …

I recently got into a debate with someone over when life begins. I suppose this question has no real answer, only our own opinions. So, whats yours? When does life begin? I'm not talking about life as in 'bacteria are alive'. When does a ball of cells become a human life, something we value higher than any other life on this planet?