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The injustice of excluding laboratory rats, mice, and birds from the Animal Welfare Act.

A major shortcoming of the Animal Welfare Act is its exclusion of the species most-used in experimentation -- rats, mice, and birds. Considerations of justice dictate that extension of the law to these three species is the morally right thing to do. A brief history of how these species came to be excluded from the laws protecting laboratory animals is also provided, as well as discussion of the implications and significance of expanding the law.

Animal Experimentation↗

Genetic enhancement: plan now to act later.

All three main articles in the issues of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal endorse the view that genetic enhancement should be permitted, including human germ-line genetic enhancement. However, unregulated, wealth-based access to genetic enhancement in general, and germ-line enhancement in particular, would create intolerable risks for society. Although there are a number of practical problems raised by proposals to regulate or restrict access to genetic enhancement, which will make it difficult if not impossible to muster support for any effective restrictions until we begin to experience the societal problems that genetic enhancement will create, it is important to consider now what restrictions would be appropriate, how they would be imposed, and what changes would be needed in existing laws and institutions to facilitate them. Without this type of groundwork, there is no way society will be in a position to act in time.

Ethical Analysis↗

Genetic enhancement and the fate of the worse off.

When reflecting on arguments in the debate about genetic technologies, decision makers must try to be empathetic to those who are worse off. Disparities in health and health care in the U.S. pale when global facts are considered. Although U.S. citizens ought to be concerned about the worse off in the U.S., such concern ultimately must be balanced against the urgent imperative to address the plight of those in poor countries. It is a matter of fairness that care and concern be directed to those who are truly worse off in global terms.

Developed Countries↗

Enhancements and justice: problems in determining the requirements of justice in a genetically transformed society.

There is a concern that genetic engineering will exacerbate existing social divisions and inequalities, especially if only the wealthy can afford genetic enhancements. Accordingly, many argue that justice requires the imposition of constraints on genetic engineering. However, it would be unwise to decide at this time what limits should be imposed in the future. Decision makers currently lack both the theoretical tools and the factual foundation for making sound judgments about the requirements of justice in a genetically transformed society. Moreover, focusing on the uncertain inequities of the future may result in failure to give priority to more pressing inequities of the present. Especially in a country that recently has enacted tax legislation that will widen existing wealth disparities, concern about the distant threat of a genetic aristocracy appears misplaced.

Cognition Disorders↗

Germ-line enhancement of humans and non-humans.

The current difference in attitude toward germ-line enhancement in humans and nonhumans is unjustified. Society should be more cautious in modifying the genes of nonhumans and more bold in thinking about modifying our own genome. I identify four classes of arguments pertaining to germ-line enhancement: safety arguments, justice arguments, trust arguments, and naturalness arguments. The first three types are compelling, but do not distinguish between human and nonhuman cases. The final class of argument would justify a distinction between human and nonhuman germ-line enhancement; however, this type of argument fails and, therefore, the discrepancy in attitude toward human and nonhuman germ-line enhancement is unjustified.

Commodification↗

Justice in the genetically transformed society.

This paper explores some of the challenges raised by human genetic interventions for debates about distributive justice, focusing on the challenges that face prioritarian theories of justice and their relation to the argument advanced by Ronald Lindsay elsewhere in this issue of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal. Also examined are the implications of germ-line genetic enhancements for intergenerational justice, and an argument is given against Fritz Allhoff's conclusion, found in this issue as well, that such enhancements are morally permissible if and only if they augment primary goods.

Cultural Diversity↗

Last word: imagining the future.

H.G. Wells warned, in 1895, not to allow economic injustices to become so acute that they ultimately transform human biology. Wells's warning is all the more pertinent today as society contemplates the use of biotechnologies to manipulate or "enhance" the human genome.

Cooperative Behavior↗

Sex and marital status in relation to the characteristics of alcoholics.

Data on 392 married and unmarried men and women alcoholics suggest that certain social antecedents and drinking patterns represent genuine sex differences and are independent of marital status. However, marital status was related to severity of alcoholism, particularly with respect to personal background characteristics and to psychological functioning at the time of treatment.

Age Factors↗

Drinking norms and alcohol-related problems in the United States.

One of Bales's three related hypotheses concerning how cultures or social structures influence the level of alcoholism in a population--that culturally determined attitudes toward drinking and intoxication determine whether alcohol will be used to relieve the stress generated in a society--is examined in the first systematic test of that hypothesis based on American data. A proscriptive norm index was computed for each of the 50 states based on percentage population residing in legally dry areas, the degree of legal restrictions on the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages and the percentage population of Mormons and Fundamentalists. The most proscriptive states are located in the southern region of the United States. Proscriptive norms are significantly correlated with all of the indicators of alcohol-related problems studied. Most of the correlations remain significant when five other variables are controlled. Proscriptive norms are negatively correlated with the indicators of heavy drinking, but positively correlated with the "social disruptiveness" of alcohol (arrest data). Thus driving while intoxicated and other alcohol-related arrests do not appear to arise as a response to the total amount of drinking. Instead, such alcohol-related problems appear to be a response to the strong cultural disapproval of drinking, with the proscriptively oriented states experiencing the highest rates of disruptive behaviors related to alcohol. The findings are consistent with a social control explanation for this link.

Alcohol Drinking↗

Heavy drinking and alcohol policy enforcement in a statewide public college system.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the association between heavy drinking and alcohol policy enforcement following the institution of a new system-wide alcohol policy at Massachusetts public colleges and universities. METHOD: Students (N = 1,252: 59% women) at 11 study schools completed a questionnaire that assessed drinking behaviors and alcohol-associated problems. College deans and campus security officers completed questionnaires assessing policy implementation and enforcement. We compared heavy drinking rates among the 11 schools and measured the association between schools' heavy episodic drinking rates and enforcement index scores based on deans' and security officers' reports of policy enforcement. RESULTS: Rates of heavy episodic drinking varied widely among the 11 schools (range: 36%-71%). The percentage of students reporting strict/very strict policy enforcement also varied widely (35%-90%). In this small sample of colleges, heavy drinking rates among students living on campus tended to be negatively associated with stricter alcohol policy enforcement reports by security officers (Pearson's r = -0.64. p < .05) and the association appeared to be linear. Heavy drinking was not associated with enforcement reports by deans (Pearson's r = 0.17, p = NS). CONCLUSIONS: Within this single state system, stricter enforcement by campus security officers of policies that limit underage drinking tends to be associated with lower rates of heavy drinking by students.

Adolescent↗