Kidney Sales and the Burden of Proof

Janet Radcliffe Richards’ The Ethics of Transplants outlines a novel framework for moral inquiry in practical contexts and applies it to the topic of paid living kidney donation. In doing so, Radcliffe Richards makes two key claims: that opponents of organ markets bear the burden of proof, and that this burden has not yet been satisfied. This paper raises four related objections to Radcliffe Richards’ methodological framework, focusing largely on how Radcliffe Richards uses this framework in her discussion of kidney sales. We conclude that Radcliffe Richards’ method of inquiry hinders our ability to answer the very question that it ought to help us resolve: What is there best reason to do, all things considered

Community composition of epipelagic zooplankton in the Eurasian Basin 2017 determined by ZooScan image analysis

The Arctic Ocean is especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Warmer ocean temperatures and reduced sea ice coverage lead to a poleward shift of communities in the Arctic Ocean. This process, termed borealization, is considerably changing Arctic marine food web structure with implications for ecosystems dynamics and functioning. Zooplankton is a good indicator of climate change in the marine environment and helps understand what role aberrations in the water mass circulations could play for ecosystem functioning. To better understand how the communities adapt to the changing environment and what the potential impacts, such as borealization, could mean for the arctic habitats, monitoring the community composition on a regular basis is crucial. Traditional taxonomical analyses are time consuming while the semi-automatic image analysis using ZooScan was developed to reduce time. This study aims to provide further information on the composition of epipelagic zooplankton communities in the Arctic Ocean determined by ZooScan image analysis and to verify whether there is a biogeographical and hydrographical pattern on the shelf and slope of the Barents Sea and in the Nansen Basin. Additionally, this study tried to confirm whether the taxonomy-based optical method ZooScan leads to similar results as dry-weight measured biomass data in term of size distribution and total biomass in different size fractions. The expedition PS 106.2 with the research vessel Polarstern provided an opportunity to sample the epipelagic zooplankton community from the shelf of the Barents Sea into the Nansen Basin proper, crossing a gradient of decreasing influence of Atlantic Water (AW). This study confirmed the hypothesis that there was a biogeographical and more importantly hydrographical pattern of mesozooplankton community structure in the study area of PS106. The basin domain is characterized by two basic water masses. The Atlantic regime (AR) with near-surface Atlantic Water (AW) and the polar regime (PR) with AW at a greater depth, overlain with polar surface water and intermediate water. Biomass and abundance were highest along stations in the AR and lowest at stations in the PR. Smaller fractions with high abundances dominated the AR and bigger fractions the PR respectively. In warming Arctic Ocean, growing AW influences can therefore have consequences for the ecosystem structure and the sustainability for marine resources, such as commercially used fish and the characteristic megafauna. Calanus glacialis and the boreal species Calanus finmarchicus were found dominant in the AR. In contrast Calanus hyperboreus and Metridia longa dominated the PR. This study showed that a more traditional method for calculating biomass such as a dry weight measurement leads to similar relative proportions as ZooScan-based biomass. This would allow for a more rapid taxonomic analysis and biomass calculation of the vast number of samples. However, a correct parametrization of the conversion from 2-dimensional objects on ZooScan pictures to dry mass is critical for an accurate determination of dry weight. Finally, there was a link between high biomasses and high abundances, which could enable faster predictions based on biomass alone in well-studied ecosystems

Selling the ‘Gift of Life’: The Ethics of Paid Living Kidney Donation

Kidney transplantation is the treatment of choice for end-stage renal disease. Unfortunately, in most countries the number of patients that could benefit from a transplant significantly exceeds the number of kidneys available from deceased and living organ donors. This thesis considers the ethics of one potential strategy for overcoming the kidney shortage: a system of regulated payments for living kidney donation. <br>     <br>    Live donor kidney markets are most commonly defended on utilitarian grounds. Proponents argue that renal failure patients and impoverished kidney sellers alike could benefit from a legal trade in organs. Most also claim that allowing the sale of kidneys would not have any significant negative effects. This thesis critically assesses, and ultimately rejects, utilitarian arguments for paid living kidney donation. I discuss four under-recognised ways that organ markets might produce harmful outcomes. First, I argue that kidney sellers are likely to experience significant physical, psychological, social and financial harms that more than offset the short-term benefits of the transaction. Second, I argue that a legal trade in organs would likely give rise to harmful social and legal pressures to sell one’s kidney. Third, I argue that a legal trade in organs would exploit the poor in ways that reinforce structural injustices. Fourth, I argue that a legal trade in organs is likely to undermine social solidarity. I conclude that there is good reason to doubt that the consequences of establishing a live donor kidney market would be positive on balance, and suggest that there are likely to be better ways of alleviating the current shortage of transplantable kidneys

Why genomics researchers are sometimes morally required to hunt for secondary findings

BACKGROUND: 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 (for example, by conducting additional analyses to search for findings outside the scope of the research question). MAIN TEXT: This paper examines whether there is a moral obligation, grounded in the duty of easy rescue, to actively hunt for genomic secondary findings. We begin by showing how the duty to disclose individual research findings can be grounded in the duty of easy rescue. Next, we describe a parallel moral duty, also grounded in the duty of easy rescue, to actively hunt for such information. We then consider six possible objections to our argument, each of which we find unsuccessful. Some of these objections provide reason to limit the scope of the duty to look for secondary findings, but none provide reason to reject this duty outright. CONCLUSIONS: We argue that under a certain range of circumstances, researchers are morally required to hunt for these kinds of secondary findings. Although these circumstances may not currently obtain, genomic researchers will likely acquire an obligation to hunt for secondary findings as the field of genomics continues to evolve.status: publishe

Bioethics Should Not Be Constrained By Linguistic Oddness Or Social Offense

10.1080/15265161.2024.2279435The American Journal of Bioethics24115-1