St Mary’s Academics Publish in Cambridge Quarterly

The Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics has commissioned academics from St Mary’s University, Twickenham to write the annual “Bioethics in the UK” special section review for 2014. St Mary’s Programme Director Dr Trevor Stammers and Research Associate Matt James were invited to publish the annual report, Bioethics beyond Borders: Opt-Outs and Upgrades, in Vol 23, Iss 3 of the Journal in which they report on two areas of UK law and ethics. Dr Stammers and Matt James both specialise in medical bioethics and, in addition to teaching on the University’s Bioethics and Medical Law MA programme, are resident staff for the Centre for Bioethics and Emerging Technologies (CBET). The report, which specifically looks at the UK, discusses the passing of the Transplantation (Wales) Bill, and cognitive enhancing drugs, also known as ‘smart drugs’. In the first section of the report, they explore the Transplant (Wales) Bill, which introduced an opt-out system of organ donation in Wales to commence from 2015. Intended to be a soft opt-out policy, the issue is raised as to whether this will be interpreted as such, or whether it will be implemented as a hard opt-out system. The report also considers the impact the Bill may have on other parts of the UK. The second section of the report looks at the prospect of being able to enhance human cognition through the use of ‘smart drugs’ and the impact that this could have on the UK workforce and work culture. They discuss the regulation of such drugs and whether they promote human well-being. Dr Stammers said, “Though fully supportive of organ transplantation and indeed on the donor register, based on the experience of other countries such as Brazil and Singapore I hope that Wales will implement its Bill sensitively as just one case attracting bad publicity can drastically reduce organ donations rather than the intended effect of the Bill to increase the number of organs available for transplant.” Commenting on the rise of ‘smart drugs’ Matt James said, “This is a fascinating area which is attracting increasing levels of interest, particularly as it relates to the world of work. In a knowledge-based economy, where we are trying to do more with less, enhancing human cognition so that we could work longer and improve our concentration and memory could be one of the drivers to ushering in a new work ‘revolution’. It is important the ethical questions associated with such a move are debated as widely as possible in order to help shape how government, industry, and science go about making strategic long term decisions in this area.”