BODY SHOPPING

Donna Dickenson (Oneworld, £9.99)

Dickenson takes extreme cases such as China’s murder of Falun Gong believers for their organs, and the trafficking of Eastern European women for their eggs and makes a case for stricter regulation of medical research on body parts.

The author, who lives in Oxford, is an emeritus professor of medical ethics and feminist. She argues that, despite new developments in genetics and biotech, this is an old-age question, and no different from other ethical issues. The other side of the argument, however, which she never really addresses, is that too much regulation creates a system in which patients who would rather be discussing their medical care are presented with endless forms asking for their consent to use slides with tiny amounts of tissue — for which the concept of ‘ownership’ seems fairly academic.

The author will discuss her bood at the Oxford Literary Festival on April 2 with Susie Orbach and Ray Tallis.