The seminar; Feminist Issues in Contemporary UK Biopolitics - 'Sourcing eggs for biomedical research' went really well. It was attended by a group of engaged and reflective participants and we managed to pull together a response to the HFEA as a result. It was a very productive event, many thanks to all who attended and contributed towards making this a great day. The response document is linked above and includes a list of participants.
This was the first in a series of three seminars, the second one will be on the theme of 'Relationships in Feminist Research' and will consider issues around relationships with other researchers, scientists, respondents, publics and new relationships in biopolitical formations such as bioart. This will be in late spring. Details to follow.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Feminist Issues in Contemporary UK Biopolitics
Feminist Issues in Contemporary UK Biopolitics
Cesagen Seminar: Sourcing Eggs for Biomedical Research
Date: November 20th 2006
Time: 10.00 am – 4.30 pm
Place: Cesagen, 6 Museum Place, Cardiff University, Cardiff
This is a one day event organised to discuss urgent issues regarding the sourcing of human eggs for biomedical research.
There will be presentations by key researchers and others engaging with this topic, and an opportunity to debate and discuss the many social, economic and ethical challenges raised, as well as the existing and prospective feminist resources available to respond to them.
The aim of this seminar is to catalyse informed debates with and between feminist academics and other engaged stakeholders. Following a morning of short presentations, the event will have a ‘workshop’ style format, with emphasis on relatively informal participation and interaction, discussing key issues and themes. This will be an opportunity to ‘fast track’ knowledge about key policy and scientific moves, developing forms of public engagement, and to debate their social/ political/cultural/ethical implications.
Invited speakers include - Michal Nahman, Sarah Parry, Celia Roberts, Sarah Sexton, Karen Throsby,
The seminar is free of charge and lunch will be provided.
Places are limited so please contact Mel Evans by 10th November
There will be a dinner for seminar participants on the night of 19th November. To book for dinner, and for accommodation, travel and other inquiries please contact
Mel Evans
Seminar Organisers: Alex Plows, Joan Haran, Kate O’ Riordan
Contact details for admin: Mel Evans (0)29 2087 0024
E-mail: evansm6@cardiff.ac.uk
Also see the event in Edinburgh on similar issues:
Share your views about women donating eggs for Stem Cell Research: A public debate
Cesagen Seminar: Sourcing Eggs for Biomedical Research
Date: November 20th 2006
Time: 10.00 am – 4.30 pm
Place: Cesagen, 6 Museum Place, Cardiff University, Cardiff
This is a one day event organised to discuss urgent issues regarding the sourcing of human eggs for biomedical research.
There will be presentations by key researchers and others engaging with this topic, and an opportunity to debate and discuss the many social, economic and ethical challenges raised, as well as the existing and prospective feminist resources available to respond to them.
The aim of this seminar is to catalyse informed debates with and between feminist academics and other engaged stakeholders. Following a morning of short presentations, the event will have a ‘workshop’ style format, with emphasis on relatively informal participation and interaction, discussing key issues and themes. This will be an opportunity to ‘fast track’ knowledge about key policy and scientific moves, developing forms of public engagement, and to debate their social/ political/cultural/ethical implications.
Invited speakers include - Michal Nahman, Sarah Parry, Celia Roberts, Sarah Sexton, Karen Throsby,
The seminar is free of charge and lunch will be provided.
Places are limited so please contact Mel Evans by 10th November
There will be a dinner for seminar participants on the night of 19th November. To book for dinner, and for accommodation, travel and other inquiries please contact
Mel Evans
Seminar Organisers: Alex Plows, Joan Haran, Kate O’ Riordan
Contact details for admin: Mel Evans (0)29 2087 0024
E-mail: evansm6@cardiff.ac.uk
Also see the event in Edinburgh on similar issues:
Share your views about women donating eggs for Stem Cell Research: A public debate
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Eggs for research - public consultation
The Human Fertilisation and Embryo Authority (HFEA) is carrying out a public consultation about the issue of egg donations and egg sharing for research. Respond to the consultation at the HFEA site (link above) or take part in the public discussions in relation to this:
Talking about stem cell research
Another event is planned at CESAGen cardiff on the 20th November, details to follow shortly.
Talking about stem cell research
Another event is planned at CESAGen cardiff on the 20th November, details to follow shortly.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Women who give eggs to science to get cut price IVF
Global news coverage has provided a variety of perspectives on this significant development. The HFEA approval of cheap treatment for IVF patients who are prepared to give some of their eggs to cloning research, precedes their autumn consultation on this issue.
Also in the news this week - Tony Blair has been represented as divided from George Bush on the issue of licensing stem cell research.
Blair to lure US stem cell firms
The UK's Blair is in the US to build bridges with US businesses
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to promote Britain as an ideal place for stem-cell research when he meets US biotechnology firms later.
Mr Blair is on a four-day visit to California to try to boost co-operation between the state and the UK.
Also in the news this week - Tony Blair has been represented as divided from George Bush on the issue of licensing stem cell research.
Blair to lure US stem cell firms
The UK's Blair is in the US to build bridges with US businesses
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to promote Britain as an ideal place for stem-cell research when he meets US biotechnology firms later.
Mr Blair is on a four-day visit to California to try to boost co-operation between the state and the UK.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
'Maverick scientist' produces peer reviewed papers
On Thursday of this week the UK Guardian newspaper reported that Dr Panos Zavos had now published evidence of his experiments in reproductive cloning. Whilst not addressing the legal and ethical issues, the paper appears to offer evidence that is more acceptable, in scientific terms, than the announcements made directly to the media in 2004.
In the Guardian article Dr Zavos is interestingly described as a 'reproductive scientist' - a description that reinforces the impression that the lines between scientific research and clinical application are ever more blurred in the areas of both 'therapeutic' and 'reproductive' cloning (somatic cell nuclear transfer).
In the Guardian article Dr Zavos is interestingly described as a 'reproductive scientist' - a description that reinforces the impression that the lines between scientific research and clinical application are ever more blurred in the areas of both 'therapeutic' and 'reproductive' cloning (somatic cell nuclear transfer).
Monday, July 17, 2006
Following up on Professor Hwang - is this a possible political economy of human genomics?
In relation to the faking of evidence by scientists in general, and in relation to the case of Professor Hwang in particular, Lisa Jardine makes the following observations:
"Political pressure from governments, pouring money directly into work in research areas they have set their hearts on leading, surely does have the capacity to distort even the best-established procedures.
What we must be watchful for are situations where the funding of science demands a rate of return on research investment that increases intolerably the temptation to gamble. Might the blame for Hwang's deception lie, ultimately, at the feet of those who financed him so lavishly, and the state machine that over-inflated his reputation?"
From The pressure to hoax: A POINT OF VIEW By Lisa Jardine
"Political pressure from governments, pouring money directly into work in research areas they have set their hearts on leading, surely does have the capacity to distort even the best-established procedures.
What we must be watchful for are situations where the funding of science demands a rate of return on research investment that increases intolerably the temptation to gamble. Might the blame for Hwang's deception lie, ultimately, at the feet of those who financed him so lavishly, and the state machine that over-inflated his reputation?"
From The pressure to hoax: A POINT OF VIEW By Lisa Jardine
Summer Events
Getting Underneath the Fact:natural categories & biological facts as historical and emergent objects
A conference organised by the Centre for Science Studies in conjunction with the Centre for the Study of Environmental Change, at Lancaster University.
To be held at the Institute of Advanced Studied from the 28th to 29th August 2006.
Reviewing Humanness: Bodies, Technologies and Spaces
EASST Conference, University of Lausanne, Switzerland, 23rd-26th August 2006
A conference organised by the Centre for Science Studies in conjunction with the Centre for the Study of Environmental Change, at Lancaster University.
To be held at the Institute of Advanced Studied from the 28th to 29th August 2006.
Reviewing Humanness: Bodies, Technologies and Spaces
EASST Conference, University of Lausanne, Switzerland, 23rd-26th August 2006
Updates
Cloning
1) Much earlier this month the ‘10th Anniversary’ of Dolly the sheep was noted in ‘BioNews’ the newsletter of the Progress Educational Trust. Roger Highfield, the co-author of Highfield and Wilmut ‘s (2006) After Dolly: The Uses and Misuses of Human Cloning, noted that he and Professor Ian Wilmut have faith about the future of cloning, and have confidence in particular groups in the governance of that future:
‘We have faith in people too. We have confidence that a well-informed democracy can keep abuses in check; we have confidence in women who would not donate eggs to clone a dictator, but would to help a patient with an urgent clinical need; and above all else we have faith in the vast majority of scientists, who are no different from anyone else in wanting to reduce suffering and make the world a better place’ (Highfield in BioNews 366:10/7/06)
The Centre for Genetics and Society (USA) reported on ‘A Decade After Dolly’ rather differently - and amongst other things - highlighted the reporting of some of the complexity, and confusion around financial incentives for female students, and egg donation in the Boston area.
Embryo Screening
2) Last month, announcements of advances in embryo screening techniques were made by UK researchers, and were reported in terms of both hope, and of concern:
‘Embryo test offers hope to parents’ (The Guardian UK, 19 June 2006)
‘New Embryonic Test Raises Concerns: Technique To Detect Genetic Disorders Spurs Fears Of 'Designer Babies'
1) Much earlier this month the ‘10th Anniversary’ of Dolly the sheep was noted in ‘BioNews’ the newsletter of the Progress Educational Trust. Roger Highfield, the co-author of Highfield and Wilmut ‘s (2006) After Dolly: The Uses and Misuses of Human Cloning, noted that he and Professor Ian Wilmut have faith about the future of cloning, and have confidence in particular groups in the governance of that future:
‘We have faith in people too. We have confidence that a well-informed democracy can keep abuses in check; we have confidence in women who would not donate eggs to clone a dictator, but would to help a patient with an urgent clinical need; and above all else we have faith in the vast majority of scientists, who are no different from anyone else in wanting to reduce suffering and make the world a better place’ (Highfield in BioNews 366:10/7/06)
The Centre for Genetics and Society (USA) reported on ‘A Decade After Dolly’ rather differently - and amongst other things - highlighted the reporting of some of the complexity, and confusion around financial incentives for female students, and egg donation in the Boston area.
Embryo Screening
2) Last month, announcements of advances in embryo screening techniques were made by UK researchers, and were reported in terms of both hope, and of concern:
‘Embryo test offers hope to parents’ (The Guardian UK, 19 June 2006)
‘New Embryonic Test Raises Concerns: Technique To Detect Genetic Disorders Spurs Fears Of 'Designer Babies'
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
WisCon and Teknolust in Madison, Wisconsin
The fabulous WisCon is running this Memorial Day weekend in Madison, Wisconsin.
As we are in town for this event we are also screening ‘Teknolust’ by Lynn Hershman Leeson. Details of the film can be found on the Teknolust website and the Internet Movie Database. Many, many thanks to the people at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who helped us organise this!
Screenings are here:
University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, 1180 Observatory Drive, Room 610 Social Science, Wednesday May 24th 4-6pm and Thursday May 25th 3-5pm, discussion afterwards.
All welcome!
We are really interested in your views on this film and human genomics in the media more generally – please contact us if you have more to say on this.
As we are in town for this event we are also screening ‘Teknolust’ by Lynn Hershman Leeson. Details of the film can be found on the Teknolust website and the Internet Movie Database. Many, many thanks to the people at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who helped us organise this!
Screenings are here:
University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, 1180 Observatory Drive, Room 610 Social Science, Wednesday May 24th 4-6pm and Thursday May 25th 3-5pm, discussion afterwards.
All welcome!
We are really interested in your views on this film and human genomics in the media more generally – please contact us if you have more to say on this.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Art, Politics and the Life Sciences
Workshop today - the third in a series on Art, Politics and the Life Sciences at Lancaster University
Other random interesting links/refs in this area:
The Arts & Genomics Centre (Amsterdam)
ArtSci Chicago (Chicago)
Connecting Scientists, Artists, and Everyone In-Between in the Chicago Area (& Beyond...)
Art and Science Collaborations Inc (New York)
Other random interesting links/refs in this area:
The Arts & Genomics Centre (Amsterdam)
ArtSci Chicago (Chicago)
Connecting Scientists, Artists, and Everyone In-Between in the Chicago Area (& Beyond...)
Art and Science Collaborations Inc (New York)
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Travelling Science: Testing Women
April 23rd 2006 - The Observer (UK) reported that:
"A revolutionary system for testing unborn babies for life-threatening diseases has been launched by British scientists."
In the language of ‘revolutions’ and ‘breakthroughs’, with the emotive ‘babies’, the dramas of ‘life-threatening’ etc we were brought the story that a UK team were going to provide safe (but revolutionary) foetal testing which, through the use of a blood test for the mother; 'ends risk to foetus'. Great.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1759357,00.html
In October 2005 Prof Dennis Lo, of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, was also providing results that could help to develop a DNA test for the foetus without invasive procedures, through blood testing the mother. Interestingly the issue of identity, and how a foetus and mother can be made to appear as separate entities in the maternal bloodstream was more visible last autumn:
"The team in Hong Kong has found a way of picking out what is baby and what is mother, by looking at a molecular biology level."
Meanwhile, in the Journal of the American Medical Association [Dhallan R et al. (2004) JAMA 291, 1114-1119] the message that foetal blood could be tested through the maternal bloodstream was news in 2004.
Mother is baby: old news
"A revolutionary system for testing unborn babies for life-threatening diseases has been launched by British scientists."
In the language of ‘revolutions’ and ‘breakthroughs’, with the emotive ‘babies’, the dramas of ‘life-threatening’ etc we were brought the story that a UK team were going to provide safe (but revolutionary) foetal testing which, through the use of a blood test for the mother; 'ends risk to foetus'. Great.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1759357,00.html
In October 2005 Prof Dennis Lo, of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, was also providing results that could help to develop a DNA test for the foetus without invasive procedures, through blood testing the mother. Interestingly the issue of identity, and how a foetus and mother can be made to appear as separate entities in the maternal bloodstream was more visible last autumn:
"The team in Hong Kong has found a way of picking out what is baby and what is mother, by looking at a molecular biology level."
Meanwhile, in the Journal of the American Medical Association [Dhallan R et al. (2004) JAMA 291, 1114-1119] the message that foetal blood could be tested through the maternal bloodstream was news in 2004.
Mother is baby: old news
Thursday, March 16, 2006
'Hands off our ovaries' and 'Donate eggs'
Interesting dialogues:
Professor Wilmut suggested that egg donations might be necessary in 2005: http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/press_releases/05-07-26_wilmuteggdonors.htm
'Hands off our ovaries' formed in 2006:
http://www.handsoffourovaries.com/
Professor Wilmut suggested that egg donations might be necessary in 2005: http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/press_releases/05-07-26_wilmuteggdonors.htm
'Hands off our ovaries' formed in 2006:
http://www.handsoffourovaries.com/
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