Ethics

Over the past several decades, breakthroughs in medicine and biotechnology have begun to alter the basic process of birth. Increasingly, parents are able to protect their unborn children from potential life-threatening diseases, or give birth to children that are chosen for specific genetic qualities. Infertility treatments are pushing back the age at which women can give birth, and novel surrogacy arrangements have given couples the opportunity to have others bear their children.

This discussion will consider how governments craft… more

How to keep track of all the scandals afflicting Congress? And what to do about them?

The most-heard diagnosis is that the problem is "money in politics." And the most-heard prescription is "campaign finance reform." But if money isn't the real source of Capitol Hill sickness, then money reform will have no effect.

The most egregious form of "money in politics," bribery, is already illegal. Former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.), for example, is doing 8 years… more

The Jack Abramoff scandal has focused badly needed attention on the quid pro quo between politicians and donors -- the granting of legislative favors in return for big donations. But evidence suggests that when it comes to money in politics, Abramoff is a distraction from the real issue: the "pyramid of money."

Party leaders such as House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R., Ill.) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), as well as most incumbents from both parties, don't need… more

California's $3-billion stem cell program has encountered repeated setbacks since it was approved by voters 17 months ago. Now it faces an entirely new and potentially even more worrisome challenge arising from two powerful patents -- patents No. 5,843,780 and No. 6,200,806, to be exact -- which cover all human embryonic stem cells and the method by which they're made.

Patents are supposed to stimulate innovation. That's why they exist. But it appears that these two patents, held… more

Isn't it great that Bill and Hillary Clinton have such a great marriage -- that they can agree to disagree on important issues, even national security issues? OK, that's enough faux political correctness for now.

So let me tell you what I really think: It stinks that the ex-president husband and his wife, the junior senator from New York, have had such divergent positions in an important homeland-defense debate. Indeed, Hillary's foreign-affairs fecklessness, most recently on the Dubai Ports World… more

Our long national nightmare has just begun. There is now little doubt that the next three years will bring one revelation after another about the magnitude of congressional corruption. Democrats will relish this prospect, and "reform" will be an inevitable theme of the next two election cycles. But some political scandals lead to change, while others dominate the headlines for a year and leave no trace. Why? Some of it has to do with managing the media, but it also… more

With financial ties to nearly two dozen drug and biotech companies, Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff may hold some sort of record among academic clinicians for the most conflicts of interest. A psychiatrist, a prominent researcher, and chairman of the department of psychiatry and behavioral science at Emory University in Atlanta, Nemeroff receives funding for his academic research from Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Wyeth-Ayerst--indeed from virtually every pharmaceutical house that manufactures a drug to treat mental illness. He also serves as… more

How much money should the grieving families of the Washington area sniper victims receive? Is $5,000 enough? How about $50,000? Or how about nothing at all?

In the aftermath of the shootings, a local nonprofit organization appealed for donations to help families victimized by the attacks. After several weeks, the group had raised $50,000 -- to the dismay of its spokeswoman, who observed that "$50,000 divided among 13 families isn't a lot of money." In fact, it is only a… more

Imagine that the year is 2012. Your 80-year-old mother is suffering from Alzheimer's and your 16-year-old son desperately needs a new kidney. The good news, doctors tell you, is that there is now a cure for Alzheimer's based on cloning nerve cells, and a safe and effective way to grow a kidney that matches your son's genetic makeup. The bad news, however, is that these and similar treatments were banned in the United States in 2002. Worse still, if you… more