title: Valuing embryos as both commodities and singularities.
abstract: An argument put forward against gamete and embryo donation, sale and research, is that to do so would treat the gametes or embryos as objects with no intrinsic value as human. Instead, gametes and embryos created and used for donation, sale or research, can be considered more like a commodity created and traded for economic exchange--something that is valuable only for the amount of money or other goods and services that others are willing to exchange. While Kant asserts that humans have dignity rather than object worth, the provision of human gametes and embryos are progressively becoming utilities for resolving childlessness and for certain research investigations. In this paper we discuss the commodity market and the relationship to human reproduction material.
authors.affiliation: Biochemistry, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. mike.legge@otago.ac.nz.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Legge
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fitzgerald
mesh_terms: D032821:Commodification; D019924:Embryo Disposition / Q000191:economics / Q000941:ethics*; D006801:Humans; D009014:Morals; D027724:Reproductive Techniques, Assisted; D012945:Social Values