Latest Articles

FDA Doubles Down On Failed Animal Biotechnology Regulation
Regulators ignore the Rule of Holes: When you're in a hole, stop digging

December 10, 2018  •  Investors Business Daily

Some bureaucrats in the Trump administration seem not to have gotten the memo about deregulation being good for innovation, the economy, and public health. Far from deregulating, FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb has doubled down on his agency's failed policy toward an entire sector of biotechnology — the production of genetically engineered animals.

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The UN Celebrates A Regulatory Debacle
The Cartagena Protocol illustrates the poor judgement and audacity of the UN's programs and officials

December 10, 2018  •  GM Crops & Food

The abstract of the article is below. If you'd like a pdf file of the entire article, please email me at henryimiller@gmail.com.

ABSTRACT

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There is a way for affirmative action to become constructive and fair; its practitioners won't like it
We can achieve diversity without unfair discrimination

December 7, 2018  •  Washington Examiner

The trial under way in Boston, in which Harvard University is charged with discrimination against Asian applicants, raises many legal questions. But it also forces us to consider critical sociocultural ones. Although diversity does have some educational benefits per se, how should it be defined, and can it be achieved in a nondiscriminatory manner?

The case against Harvard is both statistically persuasive and ugly. The university is accused of using as a critical element in its admissions a vague "personal rating," which according to the plaintiffs, was systematically jiggered to be lower in Asian applicants than for other applicants in such personality traits as "likeability," "integrity," and "courage."

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We Don't Need A (New) Ban Of Human Gene Therapy
The current prohibition by NIH and FDA is morally repugnant and bad policy.

December 6, 2018  •  Daily Caller

Animal products used in or on humans have been an invaluable part of medical practice for almost a century. Examples include animal insulins to treat diabetes and pig heart valves transplanted into humans.

A related medical breakthrough was just published on Dec. 5 in the journal "Nature": Genetically modified pig hearts transplanted into baboons can function long-term, a major step towards the clinical use of pig donor hearts in human patients.

But suppose bioethicists objected, on the grounds that such mixing of species crossed ethical boundaries. The result would be untold human misery and mortality.

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Assisted Suicide for Alzheimer's Patients Raises Incredibly Difficult Issues
Sometimes, 'first, do no harm' requires that a patient's wish not to suffer or lose dignity at the end of life be respected

December 2, 2018  •  Fox News Opinion

Medical ethics can be thorny even with relatively benign topics. But physician-assisted suicide to achieve "death with dignity' is especially fraught. It raises issues of personal beliefs, religion, human rights, end-of-life-care, informed consent, the law and euthanasia.

This subject was brought to international prominence earlier this year by the assisted suicide of David Goodall, a 104-year-old scientist from Australia. Although not suffering from a serious, discrete illness, he was aware of his diminishing abilities, including eyesight, and was told that he would eventually require round-the-clock care at home or go to a nursing home.

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