Dr Sean C. McConnell provides an introduction to gene editing, and Scott J. Schweikart discusses what prudent governance requires.

Scott Schweikart joins Ethics Talk to discuss his article: “AMA Code of Medical Ethics’ Opinions Related to Clinicians in Government.”

In the September 2014 issue on physicians as agents of social change, Dr. Audiey Kao, editor-in-chief of Virtual Mentor interviewed Dr. Rajiv Shah, administrator of the United States Agency for International Development or USAID.

This month, AMA Journal of Ethics theme editor Jacquelyn Nestor, a fifth-year MD/PhD student at Hofstra-Northwell School of Medicine, interviewed Allen Buchanan, PhD, about how we can safely explore cutting-edge biomedical enhancements.

Virtual Mentor issue editor Sophia Cedola, a medical student at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, interviewed Dr. Craig Blinderman about talking with patients who are terminally ill, asking him whether there are some key “do’s” and “don’ts” for having end-of-life conversations with patients and their families.

The adverse health effects of climate change should be the focus of physician advocacy efforts and of conversations between physicians and their patients.

Gene editing to enhance humans’ adaptability to climate change should consider safety, harm to be averted, succeeding generations, and social consequences.

Physicians need to become more involved in the public debate regarding issues of medicine, science, and evolution.

Physicians should take part in public health advocacy to improve health care for all patients.

Although parents may someday have the ability to enhance the complex physical and mental traits of their offspring, such genetic enhancements raise a number of difficult ethical questions.