Efthimios Parasidis

Regardless of whether one agrees with the positions set forth in this think pieces, legislators must closely examine the issue of when human life begins in order to intelligently frame public policy in light of emerging biotechnologies. 

Biography

Efthimios Parasidis is Assistant Professor of Law at the Center for Health Law Studies, Saint Louis University School of Law. His scholarship explores topics at the crossroads of health law and intellectual property, with a focus on emerging issues in biotechnology law and policy. He is a member of the Law & Policy Workgroup of the Missouri Health Information Organization, the entity responsible for creating Missouri’s health information exchange. He was recently selected as a Health Law Scholar by the American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics, and is a consultant to the American College of Physicians. As a Fulbright Fellow, Prof. Parasidis researched legal and ethical issues related to medical informed consent policies and practices in Greece. In addition to his scholarly work, he served as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of New York, under Eliot Spitzer and Andrew M. Cuomo, where he was lead counsel for more than 300 cases in state and federal courts at both the trial and appellate levels. He worked as an associate in the Litigation group of Jones Day and the Intellectual Property group of Dickstein Shapiro. At these law firms, he focused his practice on intellectual property counseling and litigation, as well as mass tort and commercial litigation. He has counseled biotechnology companies on corporate and intellectual property matters, is a co-founder of a biotechnology start-up company, and is a co-inventor on a patent application related to health information technology and comparative effectiveness research.

Abstract

The Essence of Being Human

Recent and emerging advancements in a number of areas of research, such as genetics, stem cell technologies, assisted reproductive technologies, human-animal chimeras and the creation of a synthetic life forms, continue to challenge historical notions of what it means to be human. The ramifications of failing to keep pace with science, in terms of distinguishing human life from other forms of life, are significant. For instance, not only does defining precisely what it means to be human raise macro-issues in law, religion and public policy, it also challenges individual religious and cultural beliefs. Through arriving at a definition of human life necessarily implicates sensitive and challenging questions, these issues ought be adequately addressed so as to facilitate appropriate regulation of the biotechnology industry and the establishment of accurate legal standards for matters ranging from rights of the unborn to classification of entities eligible for patent protection. Though international harmonisation may ultimately prove to be difficult to obtain, a robust and ongoing debate will, at the very least, raise awareness of the importance of this issue and encourage public discussion of its parameters.