21 found
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  1.  63
    Moral Limits of Brain Organoid Research.Julian J. Koplin & Julian Savulescu - 2019 - Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics 47 (4):760-767.
    Brain organoid research raises ethical challenges not seen in other forms of stem cell research. Given that brain organoids partially recapitulate the development of the human brain, it is plausible that brain organoids could one day attain consciousness and perhaps even higher cognitive abilities. Brain organoid research therefore raises difficult questions about these organoids' moral status – questions that currently fall outside the scope of existing regulations and guidelines. This paper shows how these gaps can be addressed. We outline a (...)
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  2. Germline gene editing and the precautionary principle.Julian J. Koplin, Christopher Gyngell & Julian Savulescu - 2019 - Bioethics 34 (1):49-59.
    The precautionary principle aims to influence decision‐making in contexts where some activity poses uncertain but potentially grave threats. This perfectly describes the controversy surrounding germline gene editing. This article considers whether the precautionary principle should influence how we weigh the risks and benefits of human germline interventions, focusing especially on the possible threats to the health of future generations. We distinguish between several existing forms of the precautionary principle, assess their plausibility and consider their implications for the ethics of germline (...)
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  3.  45
    Human‐Animal Chimeras: The Moral Insignificance of Uniquely Human Capacities.Julian J. Koplin - 2019 - Hastings Center Report 49 (5):23-32.
    Human‐animal chimeras—creatures composed of a mix of animal and human cells—have come to play an important role in biomedical research, and they raise ethical questions. This article focuses on one particularly difficult set of questions—those related to the moral status of human‐animal chimeras with brains that are partly or wholly composed of human cells. Given the uncertain effects of human‐animal chimera research on chimeric animals’ cognition, it would be prudent to ensure we do not overlook or underestimate their moral status. (...)
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  4.  36
    Dual-use implications of AI text generation.Julian J. Koplin - 2023 - Ethics and Information Technology 25 (2):1-11.
    AI researchers have developed sophisticated language models capable of generating paragraphs of 'synthetic text' on topics specified by the user. While AI text generation has legitimate benefits, it could also be misused, potentially to grave effect. For example, AI text generators could be used to automate the production of convincing fake news, or to inundate social media platforms with machine-generated disinformation. This paper argues that AI text generators should be conceptualised as a dual-use technology, outlines some relevant lessons from earlier (...)
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  5.  18
    Response to the ISSCR guidelines on human–animal chimera research.Julian J. Koplin - 2023 - Bioethics 37 (2):192-198.
    The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) has recently released the 2021 update of its guidelines. The update includes detailed new recommendations on human–animal chimera research. This paper argues that the ISSCR recommendations fail to address the core ethical concerns raised by neurological chimeras—namely, concerns about moral status. In minimising moral status concerns, the ISSCR both breaks rank with other major reports on human–animal chimera research and rely on controversial claims about the grounds of moral status that many people (...)
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  6.  30
    Ethics of Buying DNA.Julian J. Koplin, Jack Skeggs & Christopher Gyngell - 2022 - Journal of Bioethical Inquiry 19 (3):395-406.
    DNA databases have significant commercial value. Direct-to-consumer genetic testing companies have built databanks using samples and information voluntarily provided by customers. As the price of genetic analysis falls, there is growing interest in building such databases by paying individuals for their DNA and personal data. This paper maps the ethical issues associated with private companies paying for DNA. We outline the benefits of building better genomic databases and describe possible concerns about crowding out, undue inducement, exploitation, and commodification. While certain (...)
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  7.  27
    Moving from ‘fully’ to ‘appropriately’ informed consent in genomics: The PROMICE framework.Julian J. Koplin, Christopher Gyngell, Julian Savulescu & Danya F. Vears - 2022 - Bioethics 36 (6):655-665.
    Genomic sequencing technologies (GS) pose novel challenges not seen in older genetic technologies, making traditional standards for fully informed consent difficult or impossible to meet. This is due to factors including the complexity of the test and the broad range of results it may identify. Meaningful informed consent is even more challenging to secure in contexts involving significant time constraints and emotional distress, such as when rapid genomic testing (RGS) is performed in neonatal intensive care units. In this article, we (...)
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  8.  29
    From blood donation to kidney sales: the gift relationship and transplant commercialism.Julian J. Koplin - 2015 - Monash Bioethics Review 33 (2-3):102-122.
    In The Gift Relationship, Richard Titmuss argued that the practice of altruistic blood donation fosters social solidarity while markets in blood erode it. This paper considers the implications of this line of argument for the organ market debate. I defend Titmuss’ arguments against a number of criticisms and respond to claims that Titmuss’ work is not relevant to the context of live donor organ transplantation. I conclude that Titmuss’ arguments are more resilient than many advocates of organ markets suggest, and (...)
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  9.  38
    Burden of Proof in Bioethics.Julian J. Koplin & Michael J. Selgelid - 2015 - Bioethics 29 (9):597-603.
    A common strategy in bioethics is to posit a prima facie case in favour of one policy, and to then claim that the burden of proof falls on those with opposing views. If the burden of proof is not met, it is claimed, then the policy in question should be accepted. This article illustrates, and critically evaluates, examples of this strategy in debates about the sale of organs by living donors, human enhancement, and the precautionary principle. We highlight general problems (...)
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  10.  49
    Commodification and Human Interests.Julian J. Koplin - 2018 - Journal of Bioethical Inquiry 15 (3):429-440.
    In Markets Without Limits and a series of related papers, Jason Brennan and Peter Jaworski argue that it is morally permissible to buy and sell anything that it is morally permissible to possess and exchange outside of the market. Accordingly, we should open markets in “contested commodities” including blood, gametes, surrogacy services, and transplantable organs. This paper clarifies some important aspects of the case for market boundaries and in so doing shows why there are in fact moral limits to the (...)
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  11.  29
    The Parliamentary Inquiry into Mitochondrial Donation Law Reform (Maeve’s Law) Bill 2021 in Australia: A Qualitative Analysis.Jemima W. Allen, Christopher Gyngell, Julian J. Koplin & Danya F. Vears - 2024 - Journal of Bioethical Inquiry 21 (1):67-80.
    Recently, Australia became the second jurisdiction worldwide to legalize the use of mitochondrial donation technology. The Mitochondrial Donation Law Reform (Maeve’s Law) Bill 2021 allows individuals with a family history of mitochondrial disease to access assisted reproductive techniques that prevent the inheritance of mitochondrial disease. Using inductive content analysis, we assessed submissions sent to the Senate Committee as part of a programme of scientific inquiry and public consultation that informed drafting of the Bill. These submissions discussed a range of bioethical (...)
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  12.  25
    Why genomics researchers are sometimes morally required to hunt for secondary findings.Julian J. Koplin, Julian Savulescu & Danya F. Vears - 2020 - BMC Medical Ethics 21 (1):1-11.
    Genomic research can reveal ‘unsolicited’ or ‘incidental’ findings that are of potential health or reproductive significance to participants. It is widely thought that researchers have a moral obligation, grounded in the duty of easy rescue, to return certain kinds of unsolicited findings to research participants. It is less widely thought that researchers have a moral obligation to actively look for health-related findings. This paper examines whether there is a moral obligation, grounded in the duty of easy rescue, to actively hunt (...)
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  13.  26
    The Moral Relevance of Humanization.Julian J. Koplin - 2021 - American Journal of Bioethics 21 (1):59-61.
    Greely’s target article outlines six categories of ethical issues associated with human brain surrogate research. Some of these issues are familiar from other research contexts; others, less...
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  14.  64
    The Body as Gift, Commodity, or Something in Between: Ethical Implications of Advanced Kidney Donation.Julian J. Koplin - 2017 - Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 42 (5):575-596.
    An innovative program recently initiated at the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center allows people to donate a kidney in exchange for a voucher that a loved one can redeem for a kidney if and when needed. As a relatively new practice, the ethical implications of advanced kidney donation have not yet been widely discussed. This paper reflects on some of the bioethical issues at stake in this new donation program, as well as some broader philosophical issues related to (...)
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  15.  50
    Beyond Fair Benefits: Reconsidering Exploitation Arguments Against Organ Markets.Julian J. Koplin - 2018 - Health Care Analysis 26 (1):33-47.
    One common objection to establishing regulated live donor organ markets is that such markets would be exploitative. Perhaps surprisingly, exploitation arguments against organ markets have been widely rejected in the philosophical literature on the subject. It is often argued that concerns about exploitation should be addressed by increasing the price paid to organ sellers, not by banning the trade outright. I argue that this analysis rests on a particular conception of exploitation, and outline two additional ways that the charge of (...)
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  16.  22
    Weighing the moral status of brain organoids and research animals.Julian J. Koplin - 2024 - Bioethics 38 (5):410-418.
    Recent advances in human brain organoid systems have raised serious worries about the possibility that these in vitro ‘mini‐brains’ could develop sentience, and thus, moral status. This article considers the relative moral status of sentient human brain organoids and research animals, examining whether we have moral reasons to prefer using one over the other. It argues that, contrary to common intuitions, the wellbeing of sentient human brain organoids should not be granted greater moral consideration than the wellbeing of nonhuman research (...)
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  17.  27
    The ambiguous lessons of the Iranian model of paid living kidney donation: Fry-Revere, S. . The kidney sellers: a journey of discovery in Iran.Julian J. Koplin - 2014 - Monash Bioethics Review 32 (3-4):284-290.
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  18.  16
    The Moral Superiority of Bioengineered Wombs and Ectogenesis for Absolute Uterine Factor Infertility.Evie Kendal & Julian J. Koplin - 2022 - Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 31 (1):73-82.
    This paper argues that uterine transplants are a potentially dangerous distraction from the development of alternative methods of providing reproductive options for women with absolute uterine factor infertility. We consider two alternatives in particular: the bioengineering of wombs using stem cells and ectogenesis. Whether biologically or mechanically engineered, these womb replacements could provide a way for women to have children, including genetically related offspring for those who would value this possibility. Most importantly, this alternative would avoid the challenge of sourcing (...)
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  19.  25
    ‘It’s not worse than eating them’: the limits of analogy in bioethics.Julian J. Koplin - 2020 - Monash Bioethics Review 38 (2):129-145.
    Bioethicists often defend novel practices by drawing analogies with practices that we are already familiar with and currently tolerate. If some novel practice is less bad than some widely-accepted practice, then (it is argued) we cannot rightly reject it. Using the bioethics literature on xenotransplantation and interspecies blastocyst complementation as a case study, I show how this style of argument can go awry. The key problem is that our moral intuitions about familiar practices can be distorted by their seeming normality. (...)
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  20.  32
    Julian J. Koplin Replies.Julian J. Koplin - 2020 - Hastings Center Report 50 (1):46-46.
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  21.  36
    Emerging moral status issues. [REVIEW]Christopher Gyngell & Julian J. Koplin - 2020 - Monash Bioethics Review 38 (2):95-104.
    Many controversies in bioethics turn on questions of moral status. Some moral status issues have received extensive bioethical attention, including those raised by abortion, embryo experimentation, and animal research. Beyond these established debates lie a less familiar set of moral status issues, many of which are tied to recent scientific breakthroughs. This review article surveys some key developments that raise moral status issues, including the development of in vitro brains, part-human animals, “synthetic” embryos, and artificial womb technologies. It introduces the (...)
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