Ethics and life sciences conference Oct. 22-24

4:15 p.m., Oct. 1, 2004--Cloning, genetically modified foods and stem cell research will be among the topics discussed at the Ethics and Life Sciences Conference Friday-Sunday, Oct. 22-24, at the University of Delaware’s Clayton Hall Conference Center, on the Laird campus in Newark.

The conference, which is open to the public, will bring together experts from U.S. and foreign universities. Other topics set for discussion include animal research, vegetarianism, environmental policy, euthanasia, genetic enhancement, children’s rights, cosmetic surgery and pharmaceutical issues

"There are many difficult ethical issues that we must deal with as students, parents, voters, community leaders, educators, scientists and health-care professionals," Frederick Adams, chairperson of the Delaware Interdisciplinary Ethics Program and of UD's Department of Philosophy, said. "This conference will offer a wide range of viewpoints on these important issues so that people can develop their own informed opinions."

The following speakers will be featured in plenary sessions:

Art Caplan, Emmanuel and Robert Hart Professor of Bioethics, chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, 7:30 p.m., Oct. 22, “Is It Wrong to Try to Enhance our Brains? Health and the Pursuit of Perfection”;
Sheila Jasanoff, Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies at Harvard University, 4 p.m., Oct. 23, “Making Ethical Kinds: The Comparative Politics of Embryo Research in Europe and the U.S.”;
Mark Sagoff, senior research scholar on the environment and environmental ethics at the University of Maryland, 6 p.m., Oct. 23, “Towards a Sustainable Environmentalism”; and
Ganesh Kishore, vice president of technology, DuPont Agriculture & Nutrition, 1 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 24, “Agriculture and Biotechnology--Opportunities in Food, Energy, Health and Environment.”

Also as part of the conference, Richard Rorty, professor of comparative literature and professor of philosophy at Stanford University, will present the Norton Memorial lecture, “The Priority of Imagination Over Reason,” which is free and open to the public, at 7:15 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 23. No registration is required to attend this lecture, which will be followed by a reception.

A number of panel discussions also will be held as part of the conference, including one with Alfonso Gomez-Lobo of the Catholic Scholars Association and U.S. Rep. Michael Castle of Delaware on stem cell research at 9 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 23.

The conference is cosponsored by the Delaware Interdisciplinary Ethics Program and the Baumgardt Fund of the American Philosophical Association. It is also funded by the National Science Foundation, Delaware Biotechnology Institute, the UD Class of 1955 Ethics Endowment fund, the Unidel Foundation and UD’s College of Arts and Sciences.

For more information, a complete schedule and online registration for the conference, visit [www.dbi.udel.edu/ethics]. Onsite registration will be allowed. The registration fee is $25 and free for students with ID.

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