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Wednesday, March 9,
2005
7 – 10 p.m.
VCU Student Commons
Salon Rooms (2nd Floor)
907 Floyd Ave. (between Harrison and Cherry streets)
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Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. Embryonic
stem cell research. Cloning. Made-to-order stem
cell donors. Rapid scientific and technological
developments such as these raise important questions
about what we do, why we do it and at what cost.
How do these technologies impact our ideas about
what it means to be human? What ethical principles
should guide scientists and physicians? What
do the voices of various faiths add to our understanding
of the costs and benefits of using these technologies?
These presentations and conversations with local
experts will explore the science, morality and
social implications of research and medical treatment
involving human embryos.
Refreshments served. Free and open to the public.
Forum panel members
Dr. Dennis Matt, Scientific Director at
Virginia Andrology & IVF
Dr. Deirdre Condit, Wilder School of Government & Public
Affairs,
and Women's Studies Program,
VCU
Very Rev. Russell Smith, Catholic
Diocese of Richmond
Dr. M. Imad Damaj, President, Virginia
Muslim Coalition for Public Affairs
Dr. Jack Spiro, Harry Lyons Distinguished
Chair of Judaic Culture at VCU
National Bioethics Advisory Commission
Reports on stem cell research and cloning available
online: http://www.georgetown.edu/research/nrcbl/nbac/pubs.html.
Scroll down to Ethical Issues in Human Stem
Cell Research, September 1999. The Executive
Summary is a good place to start. After reading
this summary we encourage you to explore what
representatives of diverse Religious traditions
have to say about stem cell research. Download
the PDF at http://www.georgetown.edu/research/nrcbl/nbac/stemcell3.pdf.
Some
questions to consider
- How are they
similar to and how do they differ from
each other?
- What does each Religious ethicist
say regarding the point at which in the process of human development,
beginning with conception, a human person
exists and deserves the same rights as a person
already
born?
- How does this view relate to their ideas
concerning the nature of the body and soul,
God, the family
and communal well-being?
- How do they each arrive
at the conclusions they do regarding the
status of the fetus/embryo/person?
- For example, how
does each tradition make use of scriptures,
reason, natural law ethics and
ethical principles to determine their position
on stem cell research?
- What does each representative
have to say regarding social justice, equality
and health care more
generally?
“Fertility and Sterility”
Several reports and reviews on 10 years of
work on pre-implantation genetic diagnosis
were published
together in the August 2004 issue (volume 82,
issue 2) of major medical/research journal
of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine,
available electronically from VCU Libraries
under
the E-journals link. http://www.library.vcu.edu/ejournals/results.cfm?Search=fertility&stype=exact&Choice=main
"Embryos, cells and God"
http://www.nature.com/embor/journal/v5/n6/pdf/7400175.pdf
A brief overview of Religious perspectives
in a science journal.
NAS (National Academy
of Sciences)
http://dels.nas.edu/dels/stemcells.pdf
Eight-page overview of embryonic stem cell
research.
President's Council on Bioethics
http://bioethics.gov/
Includes numerous resources pertinent to this
debate.
Genetics and Public Policy Center
http://www.dnapolicy.org
Includes recent panel, "Custom kids? Genetic
testing of embryos" — a discussion
of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (http://www.dnapolicy.org/policy/pgdForum.jhtml)
National
Institutes of Health (NIH)
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/humanembryo.htm
Directive on human embryo research (current
status of funding)
Church and Society Commission,
Conference of European Churches
Two interesting documents on embryonic research:
http://www.cec-kek.org/English/ltrcloning.htm
http://www.cec-kek.org/English/Clonin48.htm
"Bioethics: Drawing the line" http://www.pubinfo.vcu.edu/secretsofthesequence/playlist_frame.asp
An episode of VCU's "Secrets of the Sequence" video
series.
Senator Brownback's proposed legislation
to ban all cloning
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:S.245:
The bill has been before a committee for more
than a year.
World Health Organization (WHO)
http://www.who.int/ethics/topics/cloning/en/
This link takes you to "A dozen questions
(and answers) on human cloning," including
reproductive and therapeutic cloning, with links
to many other sources as well.
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