Chapter Summary
In this chapter, Fritz Allhoff presents some general background on nanomedicine, focusing in particular on the investment that is being made in this emerging field by pharmaceutical companies. The bulk of the essay, however, consists of explorations of two areas in which the impacts of nanomedicine are likely to be most significant: (1) diagnostics and medical records; (2) treatment (including surgery and drug delivery). For each of these areas, Allhoff surveys some of the social and ethical issues that are likely to arise from the applications — for example, privacy and justice concerns. Allhoff also raises some concerns about the trajectory of nanomedical development that are related to its being guided almost entirely by market incentives.
This paper was published, in modified form, as Fritz Allhoff (2009) ‘The Coming Era of Nanomedicine,’ The American Journal of Bioethics, 11: 3–11. It appears here by permission of the author.
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© 2014 Fritz Allhoff
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Allhoff, F. (2014). The Coming Era of Nanomedicine. In: Sandler, R.L. (eds) Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137349088_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137349088_11
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