News by Subject Policy & Ethics

The current U.S. marketplace for sex robots is geared to fulfilling the needs of young, white, able-bodied, heterosexual males - a population perhaps least in need of such assistance - and simultaneously overlooks a vast demographic of potential customers: senior citizens. A bioethicist identifies the opportunity among socially isolated and disabled people age 65 and over in aging societies: Many would value a robot's companionship and, yes, even its ability to provide sexual gratification.

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is the third most common pediatric chronic disease in the United States, and the risk of the disease has risen sharply in non-Hispanic Black (NHB) children in the last 20 years, data show. Ironically, the significant advances in T1D therapeutics over recent years, especially new technologies, may have exacerbated racial disparities in diabetes treatment and outcomes.

New reveals the extent to which UK consumers dislike food produced using production methods such as hormones in beef and chlorine washed chicken. The research also reveals that UK consumers highly value food production that adheres to food safety standards set by the EU as well as UK produced food. This is particularly relevant for post-Brexit trade deals and the ongoing debates about UK food standards.

In a new report, a team of Yale scientists has developed a way to protect people's private genetic information while preserving the benefits of a free exchange of functional genomics data between researchers.

Brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies are no longer hypothetical, yet there are fundamental aspects of the technology that remain unaddressed by both ethicists and policy-makers. Two new papers address these issues by outlining the outstanding ethical issues, offering guidance for addressing those issues, and offering particular insight into the field of BCI tech for cognitive enhancement.

The first COVID-19 vaccines could be authorized as early as the start of 2021. However, in all likelihood, there will not be sufficient vaccine doses in the beginning for all the people willing to undergo vaccination. This is why prioritization will be necessary. In the position paper published today, medical-epidemiological aspects of infection prevention are presented alongside ethical, legal and practical considerations. On this basis, the authors develop a framework for action for the initial prioritization of vaccination measures against COVID-19.

A study published in the most recent issue of Academic Emergency Medicine (AEM) journal showed an increased risk of restraint use in Black patients compared with white patients in the emergency setting. The risk was not increased in other races or Hispanic/Latino ethnicity.

According to new research from the UBC Sauder School of Business, a different approach to public health messaging related to COVID-19 could potentially save more lives.

As health care costs balloon in the U.S., experts say it may be important to analyze whether those costs translate into better population health. A new study led by a Penn State researcher analyzed existing data to find a dividing line - or "threshold - for what makes a treatment cost-effective or not.