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Biomedical subjects

Dena S Davis

Publications and source records attributed to Dena S Davis.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2004

Genetics: the not-so-new new thing.

Practical knowledge of heredity predates history. Indigenous peoples laid the foundations of modern agriculture by developing plants such as corn. However, the language and metaphors of the Human Genome Project treat modern genetics as if it had no historical antecedents and fail to acknowledge these early contributions to the science of heredity. The results of this blindness are twofold: it exacerbates reluctance of native peoples to take part in genetic research and to garner the benefits of genetic medicine, and it encourages "biopiracy," as modern scientists "discover" and patent native plants.

Agriculture↗
PubMed2002

Genetic research and communal narratives.

The use of DNA evidence to prove Thomas Jefferson's paternity of Sally Hemmings' children is a powerful example of how genetic research can have an impact upon the communal narratives of families and nations.

Black or African American↗
PubMed1995

Embryos created for research purposes.

The creation of embryos for research use has drawn a great deal of criticism. It is difficult to defend an ethical distinction between what one can do to "spare" embryos and what one can do to "research" embryos. The strongest ground on which to argue against the creation of embryos for research is a symbolic one, having to do with respect for human life. Ronald Dworkin's work in Life's Dominion on the symbolic meaning of the abortion debate throws a helpful light on this dispute. By understanding the basic question to be, Does the creation of research embryos weaken or insult our communal respect for the sanctity of human life in some way that in vitro fertilization (IVF) or the experimental use of "spare" embryos does not?, the debate can move in a more constructive direction.

Abortion, Eugenic↗