Julian Savulescu Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics
Director, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford
Mark Sheehan James Martin Research Fellow, Program on the Ethics of the New Biosciences, University of Oxford
Peter Taylor Research Associate, Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford
Anders Sandberg James Martin Research Fellow, Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford
Guy Kahane Deputy Director, Oxford Uehrio Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford
Toby Ord Research Associate, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford
Dominic Wilkinson DPhil Student, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford
Rebecca Roache James Martin Research Fellow, Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford
S. Matthew Liao Deputy Director, and James Martin Senior Research Fellow, Program on the Ethics of the New Biosciences, University of Oxford
Steve Clarke James Martin Research Fellow, Program on the Ethics of the New Biosciences, University of Oxford
Neil Levy James Martin Research Fellow, Program on the Ethics of the New Biosciences, University of Oxford
Tom Douglas DPhil Student, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford
Rafaela Hillerbrand James Martin Research Fellow, Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford
Luciano Floridi Research Chair in Philosophy of Information, Department of Philosophy, University of Hertfordshire and Fellow of St Cross College, University of Oxford
Janet Radcliffe Richards Distinguished Research Fellow, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford
Nick Bostrom Director, Oxford Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford
Lachlan de Crespigny Principal Fellow, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Melbourne; Honorary Fellow, Murdoch Children's Research Institute; Research Associate, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
Roger Crisp Uehiro Fellow, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford
Barbro Fröding nee Bjorkman Marie Curie Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford
Francesca Minerva Visiting Student, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford
David Edmonds Research Associate, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford
Pablo Stafforini DPhil Student, Oxford Centre for Neuroethics, University of Oxford
Alexandre Erler Dphil Student, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford
Russell Powell Research Fellow, Science and Religious Conflict, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford
Last week the US congress agreed to a US$7 billion bail-out for the banking sector. This Tuesday, the UK government followed suit with its own bail-out - though with some fairly serious strings attached. In the US case in particular, there was some strong public opposition to the bail-out, with many people claiming that bankers should be made to feel the consequences of their own bad decisions. In response, those who favoured the bail-out tended to make one or both of two main responses. First, they claimed that the bail-out would make everyone better off, and/or second, they implied that the feelings of resentment which many harbour towards bankers are not really the sort of consideration on which economic policy should be based.
Ben Goldacre (who seems to be one of this blog's favorite
sources) tears into the Durham fish oil trial. A while ago Durham County together with the company Equazen decided
to test whether giving omega-3 supplements would improve the GCSE scores of
children. Unfortunately there were clear problems with the trial design. In the
face of criticism the organisations involved refused to give out information on
the experimental setup and even claimed not to be running it as a trial (despite numerous statements to the
press). GCSE scores did not generally increase. Despite this, now positive results are claimed - largely because what is measured has been changed to suit
the data. The most vexing thing about the whole affair is that the
trial could have been done in a proper manner for the same amount of money.
Drug company Merck and its product Vioxx are in the news again. An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has examined the documents from the legal proceedings against Merck in connection with the withdrawal of Vioxx from the market in 2004. From their analysis, a significant number of journal articles – mostly review articles rather than articles reporting clinical trials – were written in-house and senior academics were brought in late to be lead named author. At least one of these academics has disputed the accusations made in the JAMA article.
Alcohol abuse in the UK has been escalating for decades, contributing to crime, unemployment, illness and death. Last month, the government reported that alcohol-related deaths in the UK have doubled over the last 15 years to almost 9,000. One prominent factor in these increases is the price of alcohol, which has remained relatively stable despite increases in income over the years, and has thus become much cheaper in real terms. The cheaper it is, the more of it people consume, and the more ill effects are felt. The British Medical Association has thus called on the government to prohibit the cheap sale of alcohol, and in a surprising turn of events, the dominant supermarket chain, Tesco, has echoed this call.
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