[extropy-chat] [Fwd: [Bioethics] Scholars debate whether to limit scientific research]

Joseph Bloch transhumanist at goldenfuture.net
Tue Jan 3 19:41:30 UTC 2006


December 29, 2005


  Scholars debate whether to limit scientific research

ASU’s College of Law Center for the Study of Law, Science, & Technology 
will play host to a conference titled “Forbidding Science? Balancing 
Freedom, Security, Innovation and Precaution” Jan. 12 – 13 in the 
College of Law’s Great Hall, located at the corner of Orange Street and 
McAllister Avenue on the Tempe campus.

The conference will explore whether scientific research should be 
restricted – and, if so, how far “too far” might be.

The first day of the conference will provide an overview of the legal 
and policy questions, plus a discussion about the limitations of the 
“right” to conduct scientific research. The second day’s events will 
focus on three case studies involving emerging research controversies in 
the areas of pathogens and toxins, nanotechnology and
cognitive enhancement.

“We have reached a point in human history where some of the scientific 
research we could do, perhaps we should not do for safety, national 
security or ethical reasons,” says Gary Marchant, executive director of 
the center. “We therefore must choose, for the first time, which science 
should be allowed, and which should not. How, and by whom, such 
decisions should be made will be the focus of this timely and 
path-breaking conference.”

Among the distinguished conference scholars will be:

• ASU President Michael Crow.

• Leon Kass, Clark Harding Professor, Committee on Social Thought at the 
University of Chicago.

• Martin Redish, Louis & Harriet Ancel Professor of Law and Public 
Policy at Northwestern University School of Law.

George Poste, director of ASU’s Biodesign Institute, will be the keynote 
speaker.

Along with ASU, the conference co-sponsors include the Biodesign 
Institute; the Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes; the Center for 
Biology and Society; the Arizona Consortium for Medicine, Society and 
Values; the American Association for the Advancement of Science; the 
Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics; and the American Bar Association 
Section of Science and Technology Law.

The conference, open to the public, welcomes all ASU faculty, staff and 
students. There is no conference fee except for attorneys seeking 
continuing legal education credits. Advance registration is requested.

To register, go to the conference link at 
(www.law.asu.edu/forbiddingscience). 
<http://www.law.asu.edu/forbiddingscience>




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