Belousek, Darrin W.
Scientific Consensus and Public Policy: The Case of Pfiesteria
Abstract. This paper examines normative and political aspects of the peer review, scientific consensus and public policy processes related to harmful algal blooms of Pfiesteria in estuarine waters of North Carolina and Maryland in the 1990s. More...

Berne , Rosalyn W.
A Review of Fritz Allhoff, Patrick Lin, and Daniel Moore's "What is Nanotechnology and Why Does It Matter?"
“What is Nanotechnology and why does it Matter?” brings both scientific knowledge and Ethical/Legal/Societal implications (ELSI) to bear. It heralds the profound changes of nanotechnology... More...

Bluhm, Robyn
Book Review: Philip Kitcher’s “Science in a Democratic Society”
The current relationship between science and democratic decision-making is clearly not as close as it could – or should – be. In Science in a Democratic Society, Philip Kitcher presents an account of their ideal relationship... More...

Cahill, Anne-Taylor
Embyronic Stem Cells: Science Ethics and Public Policy: Conference Report
The Center for Religious Freedom at Virginia Wesleyan College wishing to examine the thorny issue of the therapeutic use of embryonic stem cells, gathered together... More...

Corley, Elizabeth A., Ph.D.
Stephen F. Haller’s Apocalypse Soon? Wagering on Warnings of Global Catastrophe
How do we make policy decisions to avert potential global catastrophes when predictions from scientific models are highly uncertain? In his book... More...

Coussens, Christine, Ph.D.
The Intersections of Trade and Environmental Health: Discussion of the Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine
The Institute of Medicine's Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine was formed in 1998 to provide a neutral setting for individuals with different backgrounds and perspectives to discuss sensitive issues of mutual interest. More...

Cranor, Carl F., Ph.D.
Daubert and the Acceptability of Legal Decisions
In a series of cases beginning with Daubert v. Merrell-Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc. the U.S. Supreme Court gave federal judges a heightened duty to review scientific evidence and expert testimony that are proposed for admission into civil and criminal litigation. More...

Darriulat, Pierre
Knowledge and Mystery: The Impact of
Contemporary Science on Metaphysics
The article, meant to address philosophers and scientists as well as the interested layman, expresses the views of a physicist on the strong impact that contemporary science has on the traditional approach to metaphysics, implying an in-depth revision of many concepts that have been happily used for centuries... More...

Detwiler, Michelle
Balancing Scientific Freedom and National Security after September 11th
An audience of approximately 300 scientists, professors, government employees, and other citizens gathered in Washington, D.C. for a public symposium... More...

Douglas-Vidas, Jennifer, M.A. and Marsha E. Reichman, Ph.D.
What Role Should Rules, Guidelines, and Education Play in the Responsible Conduct of Research? A National Conference Addresses the Issue
On September 23-24, 2002, the Office of Research Integrity (ORI), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), convened a national conference ... More...

Foster, Charles
What Is Man, That The Judges Are Mindful Of Him?: Lessons From The PVS Cases
"What is man, that thou are mindful of him?", asked the Psalmist. And the same question should be asked whenever judges ponder whether or not the life of a medically compromised patient should be ended. More...

FitzPatrick, William J., Ph.D. and Lee L. Zwanziger, Ph.D.
Defending Against Biochemical Warfare: Ethical Issues Involving the Coercive Use of Investigational Drugs and Biologics in the Military
The threat of biological or chemical warfare raises urgent questions about how best to protect both civilian populations and military personnel from biochemical attacks. More...

Frankel, Mark S., Ph.D.
The Evolving Role of Scientific Experts in the Courts
Criticism of the way the courts have handled--or mishandled--cases that have involved complex scientific and technical evidence has received extensive coverage in the press. More...

Garland, Brett, M.S., J.D.
Bioethics and Bioterrorism
A day-long conference was convened to discuss bioethical concerns arising in the wake of September 11th and the subsequent anthrax mailing incidents. More...

Gill’ard, Chantal M.A.*
Law and Morality in Assisted Reproductive Technology Case study on the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust v Mr & Mrs A & Others
There is a beautiful feminist adage that goes, ’the personal is political’. What this aphorising adage conveys is that in post-industrial Great Britain... More...

Griffith, William B.
A Review of James A. Gross's Shameful Business: The Case for Human Rights in the American Workplace and R. P. McIntyre's Are Worker Rights Human Rights?
The two books approach the problem of enhancing undervalued ‘Worker Rights’ from quite variant viewpoints, presenting an intriguing divergence of views on a very important question. More...

Gross, Cary P., MD
Financial Conflict of Interest and Medical Research: Beware the Medical-Industrial Complex
It has been a generation since the foundations of medical research in the United States have been shaken to the point of necessitating reform in the system of oversight. More...

Haack, Susan, Ph.D.
Disentangling Daubert: An Epistemological Study in Theory and Practice
In Frye (1923) the D.C. Court upheld the exclusion of testimony of the results of a then-new blood-pressure deception test on the grounds that novel scientific testimony "crosses the line between the experi­men­tal and the demonstrable... More... Haack, Susan, Ph.D.
An Epistemologist in the Bramble-Bush: At the Supreme Court With Mr. Joiner
"Judges become leery of expert witnesses," ran headlines in the Wall Street Journal a couple of years ago; they are "Skeptical of Unproven Science" -- the "Testimony of Dilettantes." More...

Haack, Susan, Ph.D.
truth, truths, "truth", and "truths" in the law
The best way to get a clear view of questions about truth -- in the law or anywhere else -- is to start, not with debates over "modernism" versus "post-modernism," and the whole dubious history of ideas they presuppose, but with a few simple distinctions. More...

Haga, Susanne B. Ph.D. and Joann A. Boughman, Ph.D.
Are Health Professionals Prepared for the Task of Integrating Genetics into Healthcare?
On May 13, 2002, more than 200 individuals from academia, public health, industry, government, patient advocacy groups... More...

Haigh, Richard and Mirko Bagaric
Immortality and Sentencing Law
The time may not be far away where we may be able to live much longer than we do now — potentially forever. This will have an enormous impact on the way people live their lives as the underlying premise... More...

Jesseph, Doug, Ph.D. (reviewed by)
James Franklin's The Science of Conjecture: Evidence and Probability before Pascal
Decision under conditions of uncertainty is an unavoidable fact of life. The available evidence rarely suffices to establish a claim with complete confidence... More...

Lebovitz, Richard M., Ph.D., J.D.
Gene patents: "What God hath wrought!"
Abstract: Although the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ("PTO") has granted patents on genes for over 20 years, the prudence of gene patenting continues to stir controversy. More...

Lepping, Peter, M.D., Tilman Steinert, M.D., and Ralf-Peter Gebhardt, Ph.D
A comparison of ethical attitudes of English and German health professionals and lay people towards involuntary admission: Implications for the new Mental Health Act (England & Wales)
Objectives: To identify ethical attitudes about involuntary admission (known in Great Britain as formal admission) in mental health professionals and lay-people in England and Germany, especially looking at possible differences... More...

Lever, Annabelle, Ph.D.
Ethics and the Patenting of Human Genes
Human gene patents are patents on human genes that have been removed from human bodies and scientifically isolated and manipulated in a laboratory. More...

Levin, Avner
The Problem of Observation
There is perhaps no area more popular or in demand among legal academics and faculties of law recently than the amorphous area known alternatively as 'law and science'... More...

Mayes, Randall
The Modern Olympics & Post-Modern Athletics: A Clash in Values
Abstract: While the overwhelming majority of professions do not regulate the use of performance enhancements, athletics has become a lightning rod. Analysis of the current policies regulating athletic enhancements reveals that drawing the line on what is permitted is an ethically and politically arbitrary process, and sport governing bodies hold athletes to a different standard. The World Anti-Doping Agency uses ?the spirit of sport? as criteria for banning enhancements while recent findings in genomics reveals the spirit of being human is to take advantage of what is available for survival. These contradictions question the reasoning and validity of the current regulations of athletic enhancements... More...

Miller, Gary
Cognition Enhancing Drugs: Just Say Yes?
In the 1980s, an earnest spokesman for the Partnership for a Drug Free America presented our nation’s children and teens with a sizzling egg in a frying pan and, with the voice of a stern-but-caring father, warned, “This is your brain on drugs…Any questions?” Questions, however, would go unanswered. More...

Moses-Òkè, Roseline Obada
Cyber Capacity without Cyber Security: A Case Study of Nigeria’s National Policy for Information Technology (NPFIT)
Prior to the year 2001, the phenomenon of Internet criminal fraud was not globally associated with Nigeria. Since then, however, the country had acquired a world-wide notoriety in criminal activities, especially financial scams... More...

Nance, Dale A., J.D.
Two Concepts of Reliability
In Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc.[2] and Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael,[3] the United States Supreme Court set the law of expert testimony on a quest for “reliability.” More...

Noah, Barbara A., J.D.
Life, Death, and Politics: The Long Good-bye
It is well settled under Florida law that individuals have a right to refuse life-sustaining medical treatment. As recognized in judicial decisions and by statute, Florida's law and its state constitution clearly support this right of refusal... More...

O'Connell, Brian M., J.D.
Ethical and Social Issues in Engineering and Computing — The Spring Regional Meeting of the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology
The IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology (SSIT) is comprised of an international membership of over 2000 practitioners and academics. In addition to those working within mainstream engineering fields, the Society includes among its members... More...

Osimani, Barbara; Russo, Federica; Williamson, Jon
Scientific Evidence and the Law: An Objective Bayesian Formalization of the Precautionary Principle in Pharmaceutical Regulation
The paper considers the legal tools that have been developed in German pharmaceutical regulation as a result of the precautionary attitude inaugurated by the Contergan decision (1970). More...

Pearson, Yvette, Ph.D.
Playing Politics with Bioethics: Now That's Repugnant
In a recent Washington Post editorial, Leon Kass claimed that neither he nor the President's Council on Bioethics (PCB) is "playing politics with science." More...

Perry, Clifton
Admissions and Confessions
In ordinary discourse, admitting to something and confessing to the same thing would likely signify no significant, substantive difference, if any difference at all. The relaxed interchange of the two concepts found in ordinary discourse is apparently not duplicated in evidence law... More...

Proctor, Robert N., Ph.D.
"Tobacco and Health" - Expert Witness Report Filed on behalf of Plaintiffs in: "The United States of America, Plaintiff, v. Philip Morris, Inc., et al., Defendants," Civil Action No. 99-CV-02496 (GK) (Federal case)
Historical Background: The tobacco plant is native to the Americas. Sailors accompanying Christopher Columbus on his voyage to the New World found Arawak and Taino Indians smoking the herb... More...

Resnik, David B., J.D.
A Biotechnology Patent Pool: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?
Abstract: This paper discusses the idea of forming a patent pool in order to address some of the licensing problems in the biotechnology industry. The pool would be an independent... More...

Resnik, David B., J.D., Ph.D.
Punishing Medical Experts for Unethical Testimony: A Step in the Right Direction or a Step too Far?
On July 19, 2002, the North Carolina Medical Board (NCMB) revoked the license of Gary James Lustgarten, M.D. for allegedly unethical conduct in expert testimony he provided in a medical malpractice case in North Carolina. More...

Rosoff, Philip M., M.D. and Melanie L. Katsur, J.D.
Preserving Fertility in Young Cancer Patients: a Medical, Ethical and Legal Challenge
Modern cancer treatment, while often producing lifelong cures, can also result in permanent damage to many organ systems. Although more than 70% of children and young adults can be cured of their cancers... More...

Sarata, Amanda, Fay Shamanski, Suzanne Goodwin, and Sarah Carr
The Secretary's Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health, and Society: Summary of the October 22-23, 2003 Meeting
The development and use of genetic technologies raises a broad range of human health and societal issues. In 2002, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services... More...

Schwartz, Adina, J.D., Ph.D.
A Challenge to the Admissibility of Firearms and Toolmark Identifications: Amicus Brief Prepared on Behalf of the Defendant in United States V. Kain, Crim. No. 03-573-1 (E.D. PA. 2004)
The following amicus brief was prepared in connection with a Daubert challenge in federal court to the admission of a firearms and toolmark examiner's testimony that cuts in a fence and grate were made by the defendant's bolt cutters, to the exclusion of all other bolt cutters in the world. More...

Shields, Bill, J.D.
A Response to Avner Levin's "The Problem of Observation"
With regard to the representation of quantum mechanics in the article, I have no serious scientific reservations, except to note that Bohr's particular version of the Problem of Observation was not and is not universally accepted. More...

Shields, William M., J.D.
Truth in Legal Practice
I read with interest Susan Haack's article on truth in the law. To the extent that I followed the philosophical points being made, I suspect that I am in agreement with Dr. Haack. In this note I offer brief comments from the standpoint of a practicing lawyer. More...

Shields, William M., J.D.
Law and Nature -- by David Delaney
It is my usual practice in reading scholarly books to first study the references cited by the author. This gives me some idea of the author's scope of research... More...

Stratos, Kimarie R., J.D. (reviewed by)
David Guston's Between Politics and Science: Assuring the Integrity and Productivity of Research
Instead of a new world order, we have "a new world of inordinate disorder," Norman Neureiter told an audience at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service... More...

Swazo, Norman K., Ph.D.
For "Just Results": Questioning National Missile Defense Research in Alaska
With the election of the Bush Administration there is added commitment to research and development of a national missile defense system (NMD)... More...

Torres, Daniel
Inter Arma Silent Leges: An Examination of the Legal Rights of American Citizens Detained as Enemy Combatants in the War on Terror
In response to the attacks on American soil on September 11, 2001, the United States launched a "War on Terror" to rid the world of international terrorist networks who posed a threat to innocent civilians and democratic civilization. More...

Walker, Vern R., J.D
Epistemic and Non-epistemic Aspects of the Factfinding Process in Law
Legislators, regulators, and judges attempt to create factfinding processes that integrate both epistemic and non-epistemic goals. Moreover, the rule of law requires that those factfinding processes be principled, equitable, and reasonably transparent. More...

Williams, Tanya, Scott Siera, and Arri Eisen, Ph.D.
Reconciling Science and Society
The Fourth National Undergraduate Bioethics Conference held at Emory University October 4-7th, 2001, marked the a stage in the vital conversation between science and society. More...

Williams-Jones, Bryn
Commercial Surrogacy and the Redefinition of Motherhood
Since the 1970s, there has been rapid and wide ranging development in the field of new reproductive technologies (NRT). With donor insemination (DI) and in vitro fertilization (IVF), previously infertile couples have been given new hope and the chance to have children. More...

Woodhouse, E. J. (reviewed by)
Science, Technology, and Democracy -- edited by Daniel Lee Kleinman
What role can lay people play in democratizing science and technology? That question is explored in eight essays first presented at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. More...

Click here to return to the home page.