Enhancing human traits : ethical and social implications /

The potential use of new biomedical technologies for enhancing human traits, rather than for therapeutic purposes, has become an important bioethical issue. This collection of 13 essays is the product of a recent conference sponsored by the Hastings Center. The authors present an interdisciplinary mix of perspectives drawn from philosophy, theology, law, public policy, medicine, and women's studies. In one way or another, all of the essays probe the difficulties of defining "enhancement" in unambiguous terms and distinguishing it from therapeutic treatment. The equally troubling social and ethical issues of defining what is a "normal" human trait also provide a common focus. Several of the essays deal with already existing problems posed by cosmetic surgery and pharmacology (particularly, the use of antidepressant drugs like Prozac). The future of genetic manipulation is also discussed, although it is not the major topic of any of the essays. Coherently organized, Enhancing Human Traits provides a useful set of perspectives for framing ethical, social, and policy questions in what will continue to be a controversial area of medicine. General readers; upper-division undergraduates through professionals. J. B. Hagen; Radford University