May 01, 2002
Stem cells and genetics: the 2002 Summer Faculty Seminar
Does a virtually invisible blob of genetic material in a Petri dish count as a constitutionally protected person? Who owns that material when it has been created in a laboratory from donor sperm and eggs? Ought America's government withhold research funds from scientists who want to use those biological materials (which are only going to be discarded anyway), when the benefits of such research can be astonishingly great? Are there some forms of scientific research that simply ought not be done? How do we determine when research participants are being exposed to an excessive amount of risk by certain experiments? What does one generation of human beings owe the next?
These and other questions will be discussed at the 2002 Faculty Ethics Seminar, hosted by the Ethics Center. Professors from the medical school, the law school, and the graduate school of arts and sciences will meet over two weeks to discuss these topics so that they might return to their classes and their scholarship with additional insights and perspectives. The seminar is fortunate to have participants who are presently engaged in state-of-the-art research on genetics and stem cells, as well as other persons who have been following the international conversation on genetics and stem cells with an interest as to how health care institutions, public policy, and international trade might be affected.
A collection of readings will anchor the seminar's sessions and, following its conclusion, a manuscript will be produced that notes its key discussions, analyses and insights.
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