Chimeras and human dignity.
Discussions about whether new biomedical technologies threaten or violate human dignity are now common. Indeed, appeals to human dignity have played a central role in national and international debates about whether to allow particular kinds of biomedical investigations. The focus of this paper is on chimera research. I argue here that both those who claim that particular types of human-nonhuman chimera research threaten human dignity and those who argue that such threat does not exist fail to make their case. I first introduce some of the arguments that have been offered supporting the claim that the creation of certain sorts of chimeras threatens or violates human dignity. I next present opponents' assessments of such arguments. Finally I critically analyze both the critics' and the supporters' claims about whether chimera research threatens human dignity.
de Melo-Martín
Inmaculada
I
Department of Public Health, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA.
D002678:Chimera; D032981:Dehumanization; D026689:Ethical Analysis; D032984:Ethics, Research; D036281:Genetic Research / Q000941:ethics*; D006806:Human Rights; D006801:Humans