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. 2013 May-Jun;43(3):23-33.
doi: 10.1002/hast.159.

Preventing sin: the ethics of vaccines against smoking

Sarah R Lieber, Joseph Millum

Preventing sin: the ethics of vaccines against smoking

Sarah R Lieber et al. Hastings Cent Rep. 2013 May-Jun.

Abstract

Advances in immunotherapy are paving the way toward vaccines that target unhealthy behaviors, such as a vaccine that blocks the action of nicotine, reducing the pleasure caused by smoking. Such a tool could prove to be an effective tool for preventing children from taking up smoking. Would it be permissible?

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Comment in

  • Shots for tots?
    Feldman EA. Feldman EA. Hastings Cent Rep. 2013 May-Jun;43(3):34-5. doi: 10.1002/hast.175. Hastings Cent Rep. 2013. PMID: 23650066 No abstract available.

References

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    1. In their brief treatment of the ethics of vaccinating children against smoking, Andreas Hasman and Søren Holm are ambivalent. They conclude: “It is therefore arguable that active nicotine vaccination is at the cusp of infringing the right to an open future, and that vaccination of children is not ethically unproblematic”;

    2. Hasman A, Holm S. Nicotine Conjugate Vaccine: Is There a Right To a Smoking Future? Journal of Medical Ethics. 2004;30:344–45. - PMC - PubMed

    3. The framework we develop here allows a much more precise conclusion to be drawn concerning whether and when vaccination would be permissible.