As screening for genetic abnormalities becomes more and more prevalent as
part of prenatal care and assisted human reproduction, we open up a host of
important and contentious ethical questions. Are these screening programs
part of preventative medicine? What sorts of genetic conditions should we
allow screening for? Why? Who all is affected, positively or negatively by
these practices? What should our way forward be with these technologies?
Come participate in a panel discussion lead by experts in the field that
will cover issues relating to the science and ethics of reprogenetics.

May 7, 2008. 7:30PM
Michelin Theatre, Discovery Centre ,1593 Barrington St., Halifax, NS
Info
Register

One of the activities undertaken to disseminate information concerning the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, adopted in 2005 by UNESCO, is the Ethics Education Program. This program is mapping existing teaching programs in the area of ethics in the Member States of UNESCO. The various programs are described, discussed in expert meetings, and made available in the Global Ethics Observatory (www.unesco.org/shs/ethics/geobs). Experiences concerning the contents, intensity, methods and materials of existing programs are therefore publicly accessible and can be exchanged among experts. Teachers who want to initiate ethics teaching can find suggestions and ideas in the database. UNESCO has organised meetings with ethics teaching experts in the previous years in Budapest, Moscow, Split, Muscat and Istanbul. In 2008 a similar meeting will take place in Marrakesh, Morocco.

More information as well as a registration form can be found on the SHS website.

Studies in Ethics, Law, and Technology (Volume 2, Issue 1) is now available online.

Articles include:
“Death in Traffic: Why Are the Ethical Issues Ignored?” by Leonard Evans
“The Ethics of Autonomous Military Robots” by Jason Borenstein
“Privacy, Data Protection, and the Unprecedented Challenges of Ambient Intelligence” by Antoinette Rouvroy
“The Legal and Ethical Changes in the NHS Landscape Accompanying the Policy Shift from Paper-Based Health Records to Electronic Health Records” by Alan C. Gillies
“Engineering Greater Resilience or Radical Transhuman Enhancement?” by Andy Miah
“The Historical Idea of a Better Race” by Matti Häyry

Book Reviews
“Review of Biotechnology and the Human Good” by David B. Resnik
“Review of Nanoethics” by Jason Robert

A new type of powerful stem cell made from ordinary skin cells has been coaxed into becoming three different types of heart and blood cells in mice, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday. (Reuters)

An inexpensive new gene-sequencing machine is due to hit the market next month, and its creators hope that it will make sequencing more common, ultimately giving a boost to personalized medicine. The machine is the brainchild of George Church, a genomics pioneer who developed the first direct sequencing technology as a graduate student in the 1980s and helped initiate the Human Genome Project soon after. (Technology Review)

The Philippines is banning kidney transplants for foreigners, as part of a government crackdown on a growing but illicit trade in human organs bought from the poor, officials said Tuesday. (New York Times)

Two parents who prayed as their 11-year-old daughter died of untreated diabetes were charged Monday with second-degree reckless homicide. (The Associated Press)