BioEdge: “To boldly go where no man has gone before!” – forging space bioethics

BioEdge: “To boldly go where no man has gone before!” – forging space bioethics

“To boldly go where no man has gone before!” – forging space bioethics by Michael Cook | 19 Sep 2020 |      Space colonisation is no longer just a dream of science fiction novelists. It is seriously being considered by governments and corporations. Space entrepreneur Elon Musk apparently believes that there will be a million people on Mars by the year 2050. With all that activity the colonists will almost certainly be in need of a bioethicist. Polish philosopher Konrad Szocik is one candidate. In an article in the journal Bioethics, he outlines some of the issues that people will face in space. He says that “the new space bioethics should be a feminist new bioethics that is free from many of the historical biases associated with a male-centred perspective in philosophy and bioethics.” What are some of the issues that space colonists will have to deal with? The first thing to be noted is that “we should be open and ready for all kinds of ethical rules in a space colony—including those that go against our current moral intuitions.” It may be that space will be a new frontier ethically as well as technologically, giving the Star Trek motto, “To boldly go where no man has gone before!”, a new twist. Human reproduction. On earth, the right to reproduce is fundamental. But in space, children might be genetically impaired or might strain the slender resources of a colony. Sterilisation. This might have to be mandatory in space to prevent births. Human enhancement. Assuming that it is possible, earth-bound scruples might have to be discarded if the survival of the human species were at risk. Pre-birth screening. Should space settlers have the right to select embryos for intelligence or capacity to survive? Szocik believes that feminist bioethics offers the best framework for space bioethics because it is more attentive to reproductive and environmental issues. Michael Cook is editor of BioEdge

Our lead story today is -- sort of -- about a Christmas gift. Specifically, one that you probably shouldn't buy for people you don't know very well: a subscription to a genealogy website. Two fertility doctors are being sued in the US after the offspring of former patients discovered that the doctors are their biological fathers. For them, and for their mothers, the news was devastating.

This is not the first time that this has happened, of course, and the lawyer leading the lawsuit against the doctors warns that there will be many more. This despicable behaviour appears to have been common 30 or 40 years ago and 30 or 40 is the age when people start to get curious about their sperm donor fathers and buy DNA testing kits.

Michael Cook
Editor    

NEWS THIS WEEK

The US should brace itself for a “national wave of fertility fraud”

by Michael Cook | Sep 19, 2020

Home DNA testing kits are revealing widespread fertility doctor abuses
 

 

“To boldly go where no man has gone before!” – forging space bioethics

by Michael Cook | Sep 19, 2020

Feminism offers the best framework for shaping a new approach
 

 

Should India repeal its ban on sex selection?

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Yes, says Norwegian bioethicist
 

 

Whistle-blower claims that detainees in US facility were sterilised without consent

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“That’s his specialty, he’s the uterus collector,” said one woman.
 

 

Assisted dying activists sue to force UK doctors to change policy

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The Royal College of General Practitioners has an “irrational” position
 

 

Are you a burnt-out bioethicist? If so, you’ve got company

by Michael Cook | Sep 19, 2020

Are you exhausted? Are you feeling mental distance from your work?
 

 

5% of Australian babies come through IVF

by Michael Cook | Sep 19, 2020

And a record one in 10 babies of women over 35    

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