Bioethics in the Eye of the Storm: The American Journal of Bioethics September/October 2005 is Out

Today, Volume 5 number 5 of The American Journal of Bioethics was released, and it is without question the issue of which we are most proud in recent years. The issue is entitled "Bioethics in the Eye of the Storm," and at its core is an examination of whether bioethics is on the right track - are we holding ourselves to high ethical standards? Are we doing a good job with Hurricane Katrina, and if not, is that because our emphasis is off track? Do we need a new code of ethics?

This special issue is available here and of course in major bookstores and by instant online access and paper subscription at Taylor & Francis Health. American Society for Bioethics and the Humanities members get a special reduced price as part of our partnership with ASBH.

The issue is lead by a special President's Essay from the ASBH, by Arthur Derse, entitled "the Seven Year Itch." Alongside is Robert Baker's target article, "A draft model code of ethics for bioethicists," which is the most tangible product of the special Alden March Bioethics Institute/ASBH/AJOB spring conference here last year on "the ethics of bioethics." Commentaries on Bakers' article by, among others, Tom Beauchamp, John Lantos, Stephen Latham, Ken Kipnis, Frank Miller, Felicia Cohn, and Jeff Spike focus on the whole range of problem about our own ethics that have been brought to the fore: industry involvement, professionalization, careerism, consultation.

In Focus in this issue is another take: Jonathan Moreno's "In the wake of Katrina: has "bioethics" failed?" which asks some contextual questions about how the disaster relates to our role in society.

Also in this issue - which arrives alongside a new issue by our friends down the Hudson at Hastings Center on research ethics - is an excellent Target Article by Ezekiel Emanuel, "Undue inducement: nonsense on stilts?" which makes the most aggressive argument to date that the very notion of "undue inducement" of human subjects in research needs to disappear and be replaced with other ways of protecting human subjects. Commentary on the issue ranges across all the disciplines that work on research ethics, and we expect that this collection will become required reading for those who trouble with the problem of inducements in research. In particular, Norman Fost, Howard Brody and Harold Vanderpool call into question the broad fabric of consent in the first place, and Alex London asks whether or not the whole problem comes from bad science.

Also in this issue is a target article collection on adolescent participation in emergency-department-based research on sensitive issues, and the second installment of our Public Health Bioethics section by new contributing editor Matt Wynia, director of the AMA's Institute for Ethics. And a particularly fascinating exchange concerning cheating on organ transplantation, and an In Focus piece on criminalizing scientific misconduct.

Bioethics is finding its way through a storm, working to think in new ways to rethink its own identify and its responsibilities to others, and particulary to the vulnerable. We could not be more proud of the work of the many who wrote for this special issue of AJOB, and we look forward to hearing about what you think!