Bioethics, Ignorance Versus Progress

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The Stanford Daily provides an excellent example of the way in which institutionalized bioethics has largely become an exercise in hindering research from a position of ignorance: "But at the moment, Weissman's proposed mouse project still has not begun as he waits for the scientific community's approval after reviewing the ethical concerns raised by the experiment. 'This project will test human neuronal cells in a mouse brain micro-environment as a prelude to studying stem cells that have human genetic diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Lou Gehrig's, and cerebral palsy. Which of these diseases should we not be working on as fast as we can?'" A salaried bioethicist has no incentive to help people by speeding research - the incentives in this position are all in the direction of inventing new obstacles to progress in medicine.

Link: http://daily.stanford.edu/tempo?page=content&id=18153&repository=0001_article