In the Spotlight

The Rise of the Biocrats
The Pennsylvania Gazette | May/June 2012

From stem cell research to HPV vaccinations, healthcare policy to genetic modification, bioethics increasingly provides the framework for weighing the costs and benefits of scientific progress. Long a leader in the field, the University is moving to make Penn the place where such work happens, and where the next generation of bioethicists will be minted.
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"There is, as in many areas of medicine, a pipeline problem," says Emanuel. "There are only a few sites around the country where you can get suitable training [in bioethics]. And so part of the plan is to make Penn the best place in the world to train to become a bioethicist."

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News & Announcements

• May 8, 2012
  Get A Grippe: Lessons Learned From The Controversy Over Publication Of Pandemic Flu Research
  (From Health Affairs) If one were to try and identify what issue has most roiled the biomedical community in the past few months it is surely the effort to censor two papers describing genetic modifications of the H5N1 flu virus. Read more...
  
• May 3, 2012
  A modest proposal: To solve health spending crisis, tax cats
  (From MSNBC) The costs of a cat-loving America ought to be looked at in the same vein as recent calls to tax fat people.
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  So bring on the fat tax -- but tax all those who choose to make themselves, their kids and visitors sick by lifestyle choices... Read more...
  
• May 2, 2012
  Ethics: Withhold Genetic Test Results if Mother Will Abort?
  (From Medscape) Can a doctor lie about the results of a genetic test if he or she thinks that they might lead to an abortion?
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  The State of Arizona is considering a law that might make it possible to make the answer to that question "yes." Read more...
  
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