Publisher Description

This wide-ranging, multidisciplinary collection examines how advances in medicine and technology are affecting the aging process and the lives of elderly persons. In analyzing the state of biotechnology, these essays applaud the positive-extended longevity and the potential for greater quality of life-while probing such ethical quandaries as presymptomatic genetic testing, therapeutic cloning, antiaging technologies, and the transhumanist movement. The volume includes discussions about the respective roles of health care professionals, government, and individuals in shaping a workable regulatory framework and unifying multiple perspectives to make the biotechnology revolution beneficial to all. Featuring contributions from renowned scholars of religion, ethics, philosophy, psychology, law, medicine and nursing, and gerontology, Aging, Biotechnology, and the Future illuminates the promises and perils of growing old in the biomedical age. Contributors: George J. Annas, Jessica Brommelhoff, Lisa Sowle Cahill, Margaret Gatz, Pamela J. Grace, Robert C. Green, Fernando A. Guerra, Rose M. Harvey, Kathy J. Horvath, Ann C.Hurley, Robert Lanza, Karen Lebacqz, Erin Linnenbringer, Maxwell J. Mehlman, Toni P. Miles, Sarah Moses, Thomas T. Perls, Leonard W. Poon, Catherine Y. Read, J. Scott Roberts, Diane Scott-Jones, Thomas A. Shannon, Richard L. Sprott, Rosemarie Tong, Laurie Zoloth

Author Biography

Catherine Y. Read, Ph.D., R.N., is an associate professor of adult health and associate dean of the Undergraduate Program at the Boston College School of Nursing. Robert C. Green, M.D., M.P.H., is a professor of neurology, medicine, and epidemiology at the Boston University School of Medicine. Michael A. Smyer, Ph.D., is a professor of psychology and director of the Center on Aging and Work at Boston College. He is the coeditor of Challenges of an Aging Society, also published by Johns Hopkins.

Table of Contents

Preface
List of Contributors
Part I: Introduction
Chapter 1. Reality check: What Is Genetic Research on Aging Likely to Produce, and What Are the Ethical and Clinical Implications of Those Advances?
Chapter 2. Meeting the Challenges of a Diverse Aging Society
Part II: Immortality
Chapter 3. Immortality Through cloning? Reproduction, Regeneration, and the Posthuman
Chapter 4. The Transhumanist Movement: A Flawed Response to Aging and Its Natural Consequence
Chapter 5. Stem cell Research and Intervention
Chapter 6. The Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications of Antiaging Technologies
Chapter 7. Stem Cells and Aging: Quality and Quantity of Life in an Unjust World
Part III: Centenarians
Chapter 8. Centenarians and Genetics
Chapter 9. What Can We learn From Centenarians?
Chapter 10. A Developmental Perspective on Aging and Genetic Technology: A Response to Studies of Centenarians
Part IV: Genetic Testing
Chapter 11. Genetic Testing for Alzheimer Disease: The REVEAL Study
Chapter 12. The Implications of Genetic testing for Alzheimer Disease
Chapter 13. Genetic Susceptibility to Alzheimer Disease
Chapter 14. Psychological Issues in Genetic Testing
Chapter 15. Genotype, Phenotype, and Primary care: Why the New Genetics Technology Is Not Ready for Primary Care
Part V: Ethical and Social Perspectives
Chapter 16. Genetics, Aging, and Primary care: Ethical Implications for Clinicians
Chapter 17. Aging, Genetics, and Social Justice
Chapter 18. The Ethics of Aging: Question of Ends at the End of Life
Chapter 19. A Lonely New World—or Me, Myself, and I
Index

Review

This is a brilliant and useful book that summarizes much information from different points of view into a unified whole... So vibrant in its clarity, so audacious in its thinking, it adds much to the luster of this remarkable book, one that deserves a wide readership. Doody's Review Service A comprehensive yet concise, simple-to-read synopsis of the issue involving modern biotechnology/aging research... Highly recommended. Choice A thought-provoking starting point for anyone interested in the varied and reciprocal implications of population aging and developments in biotechnology. -- Stephen J. Cutler, PhD Gerontologist An approachable... collection of essays -- Gareth Southwell Metapsychology

Long Description

This wide-ranging, multidisciplinary collection examines how advances in medicine and technology are affecting the aging process and the lives of elderly persons. In analyzing the state of biotechnology, these essays applaud the positive--extended longevity and the potential for greater quality of life--while probing such ethical quandaries as presymptomatic genetic testing, therapeutic cloning, antiaging technologies, and the transhumanist movement. The volume includes discussions about the respective roles of health care professionals, government, and individuals in shaping a workable regulatory framework and unifying multiple perspectives to make the biotechnology revolution beneficial to all. Featuring contributions from renowned scholars of religion, ethics, philosophy, psychology, law, medicine and nursing, and gerontology, Aging, Biotechnology, and the Future illuminates the promises and perils of growing old in the biomedical age. Contributors: George J. Annas, Jessica Brommelhoff, Lisa Sowle Cahill, Margaret Gatz, Pamela J. Grace, Robert C. Green, Fernando A. Guerra, Rose M. Harvey, Kathy J. Horvath, Ann C. Hurley, Robert Lanza, Karen Lebacqz, Erin Linnenbringer, Maxwell J. Mehlman, Toni P. Miles, Sarah Moses, Thomas T. Perls, Leonard W. Poon, Catherine Y. Read, J. Scott Roberts, Diane Scott-Jones, Thomas A. Shannon, Richard L. Sprott, Rosemarie Tong, Laurie Zoloth

Review Text

""An approachable... collection of essays""

Review Quote

"This is a brilliant and useful book that summarizes much information from different points of view into a unified whole... So vibrant in its clarity,, so audacious in its thinking, it adds much to the luster of this remarkable book, one that deserves a wide readership." -- Doody's Review Service

Details