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).
Saturday, July 22, 2006
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'
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