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The Charade of Blood Dope Testing
by Julian Savulescu The latest weapon in the arsenal of doping tests is the blood passport. It aims to track the red blood cell count over the last year. Changes during competition indicate doping. Of course it is doomed to fail. The reason is red blood cells vary from individual to individual, and the count
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Roman Infanticide, Modern Abortion
By Roger Crisp Two recent pieces of news highlighted a major difference between modern and ancient attitudes to the moral status of the human fetus. On the one hand, archaeologists have suggested that a burial of ninety-seven infants at a Roman villa in Hambleden is evidence of systematic infanticide of children born to prostitutes working
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Ethical questions surrounding the BP Oil Spill
Largest oil spill in U.S. history continues to devastate Gulf wildlife while the press and independent scientists are continually denied access to spill site and surrounding beaches. by Stephanie Malik On April 20 a wellhead on the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform blew out in the Gulf of Mexico approximately 40 miles southeast of the
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Drugs in sport debate: Opposers response 2
[This is the last of the formal responses in the debate – both debaters will post closing comments at the end of the week. Don't forget to vote next week!] by John William Devine Frank Lampard’s ‘goal’ that never was in England’s World Cup defeat to Germany yesterday is an example of sport being held
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Foetal pain and the abortion debate: believing what you want to believe
By Janet Radcliffe-Richards Last Friday’s BBC morning news headlines included a report of two reviews by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of evidence about foetal pain. The reviews concluded that foetuses under 24 weeks could not feel pain, because “nerve connections in the cortex, the area which processes responses to pain in the
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Drugs in sport debate: Proposer’s update 2
by Julian Savulescu Illegal prostitution still occurs in countries where it has been decriminalised; illegal use of dangerous drugs still occurs in countries which have relaxed their bans on recreational drugs. But overall, such societies are better for their tolerance, their focus on harm reduction, compared to absolutist, prohibitionist societies. So, too, for doping.
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A Universal Moral Code?
Might there be a universal moral code? When we look around, we everywhere find bitter and seemingly interminable moral disagreements about abortion, or euthanasia, or animal rights, or social justice, and many other issues, not to mention the vast gulfs that separate the moral outlooks of different cultures. The idea that there is a universal
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Choosing how to live: death row inmates and terminally ill patients
by Shlomit Harrosh Convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner was killed by gunfire on July 18, 2010. Given the choice between lethal injection and being shot, Gardner opted for the firing squad. This was the first firing squad execution in the state of Utah since 1996. In the 37 states where the death penalty is in
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Drugs in sport debate: Opposer’s update
by John William Devine Julian’s response to the problem of doping is to throw in the towel.
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Sex and the minimally conscious state
An interesting case is reported in the most recent issue of the Hastings Center Report. Mrs Z, is a 29 year-old woman who was released into her husband’s carefollowing a traumatic brain injury. She is in a minimally conscious state (MCI), a state of severely impaired consciousness. MCI cases cover a range of cognitive deficits;