Sydney - Doctors are too focused on treating the sick and risk missing the enormous opportunities of using advances in medical science to "make happier, better people," a gathering in Australia was told. Eminent bio-ethicist Julian Savulescu, professor of practical ethics at Oxford University, told the Canberra meeting that doctors shouldn't be so wary of enhancing life.
"If we cured all disease - cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes, etc. - we would only prolong life on average by 12 years," the Australian-born Savulescu said.
"So we have pretty much reached the ceiling of what we can do by treating and preventing disease."
The next frontier is enhancing life through medical intervention. We can be brighter, stronger, healthier.
He argued that many of us routinely use cognitive enhancers like caffeine and nicotine. Alcohol is another intervention, this time to improve mood and aid socialization. Prozac and Viagra are interventions.
Savulescu urged the medical profession to embrace new methodologies and not worry too much about ethical considerations.
"The sort of methodologies in science that I'm talking about are stem cell science, cloning and the new genetics," he said.
