July 2008
Not Waiting for the Feds on Nano...
The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies announced yesterday that another city, following the lead of Berkeley, California, has taken action at the local level to promote the safe use of nanotechnologies in the absence of federal regulations regarding the research and development of nanoparticles and their related technologies.
The Real Price of the Obesity Epidemic
According to a new article published by researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found today on bioethics.net, most of all adults will be overweight or obese by the year 2030, to the tune of over $900B in healthcare costs.
If these projections are accurate, I think it's time to ask whether our $.99 Junior Bacon Cheeseburgers from Wendy's and high-fructose corn syrup injected foods (especially children's foods) should be made more expensive, less accessible, or less advertised (and therefore attractive to children and adults).
Food politics are, necessarily, going to become a key part of this issue, not to mention the moral responsibility of doctors to educate their patients about healthy diets, active lifestyles, and how to prevent adults and children from becoming part of this epidemic.
New Issue of The American Journal of Bioethics Now Online
Volume 8 Issue 4 of the American Journal of Bioethics is now online. This month's issue includes target articles on whether ethics education effects nurses and social workers ethical sensibilities, pragmatism in clinical research, and ethical issues in rural health care
When the Price at the Pump Begins to Effect Quality Health Care, We Know We Have a Real Problem...
As today's Washington Post article reports on bioethics.net, the recent surge in gas prices is making the cost of providing home health care for those individuals who require services in the home even greater. While some companies are sensitive to this burden and are handing out gas cards to prevent home health care providers from dropping from the ranks, if gas prices continue to rise, it will only be a matter of time before home health care companies will have to find a way to cut costs--reducing the number of visits, putting the burden back on providers, or reducing costs in some other way that is certain to reduce the quality of care provided in the home. Just when you thought the economy and the oil barons couldn't hurt us any more, it turns out they can hurt our health too....
Where's the Beef...or Should I Say Pork?
With the Food and Drug Administration's most recent approval of an antiwrinkle injectible that will keep a person's face expressionless, an important question must be asked: can the new Evolence, made from the stuff of food-grade pigs, be used by Jews without violating the Rabbinic laws?
In other words, is Evolence kosher?
Hello Health Guide, Goodbye Doctor's Waiting Rooms
The US Food and Drug Administration approved Intel's newest healthcare gadget: an in-home health monitoring system for patients with chronic conditions, called Health Guide. 
While the clear advantages of this device's gathering health information and helping patients keep on schedule with their medications, such devices for these purposes already exist. It is the added technological features, including video conferencing and Internet relayed health data, that have dubious advantages when weighed against the privacy concerns and the real ability to integrate such a device into the healthcare system.
Goodbye Marcus Welby, MD--Hello Hal, Health Guide.
Much More Than An Apology
On Thursday, July 10th, the American Medical Association issued an apology for past inequalities in the treatment of African American physicians and patients. This apology was the result of an AMA panel convened to investigate the disparities in access and outcomes between caucasian and African-Americans in the US. Such an acknowledgment by the AMA is a dramatic move forward in claiming responsibility for health disparities between minorities and caucasians in this country, but what one should hope is the first step toward repairing the damage and reducing health disparities.
No to Pens and Yes to Pizza
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) Board of Directors have adopted a new code of ethics on interactions with healthcare professionals (bioethics.net News, July 12, 2008). This change in the code would further restrict pharmaceutical reps and other industry professionals in regard to their interactions with doctors, nurses, and other healthcare industry workers. While these changes might seem like a step in the right direction, a closer look suggests that it may be at best a half-step.
A Weighty Subject
Writes guest blogger Dr. Summer Johnson: 
As described in the Newsweek article, "Should the Obese Pay More for Airline Tickets?", one of the latest social disincentives created by the airline industry to penalize those obese persons choosing to fly the not-so-friendly skies is to charge a double fare to cover the extra fuel that it costs to fly overweight people who must sit in two seats.
However, it is hard to see how such policies invoked by airlines would do anything more but embarrass obese passengers, prevent economically disadvantaged passengers from flying in many cases, and focus attention on the harms of obesity in America rather than upon finding positive, constructive solutions to prevent or solve it. Such policies are clearly unethical and should be revoked by the airlines, even if they reduce the carbon footprint.
