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by Maxwell J. Mehlman
The United States military, led in large part by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), has evinced a strong interest in employing biomedical and genetic/ genomic technology to improve the ability of warfighters to carry out their missions with greater safety and effectiveness.
The use of biomedical enhancements outside of the military is highly controversial, but since enhancements potentially could enable warfighters to achieve their missions more safely, effectively, and economically, it is not clear that objections to enhancements in other contexts apply to the military, or that they could not be overcome by the special nature of military service and the exigencies of military operations. Still, the military would be wise to tread carefully in this area to avoid causing unnecessary or excessive harm to warfighters by subjecting them to unethical experimentation or by requiring them to use unjustifiably dangerous or ethically objectionable enhancement technologies. In addition, inappropriate decisions by the military could provoke a negative public reaction that would impair recruitment and ability to fulfill legitimate military responsibilities.
This chapter begins by defining what counts as a biomedical enhancement and then describing current and historical uses of enhancements by the military. It then identifies the broad ethical, legal, and policy issues that would be raised if military research on these tech nologies were conducted with human subjects, and the issues raised by giving these technologies to warfighters in the field. Next, the chapter establishes an ethical framework for resolving these issues. Finally, the chapter proposes a set of guidelines for military use of biomedical enhancements.
(2015-05-22). Routledge Handbook of Military Ethics (Kindle Locations 13682-13694). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.