Tuesday, April 18
12:00 noon - 2:00 pm
lunch will be provided

World Affairs Council
312 Sutter Street, Suite 200
San Francisco, California

Host Committee:
Kath Delaney, Chris Desser, Alexander Gaguine,
Charles Halpern, Catherine Porter, Roxanne Turnage

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New human biotechnologies hold potential for both great good and great harm. How can we ensure that these technologies support rather than subvert values of justice, equality and democracy?

With San Francisco now designated as headquarters for California's $3 billion stem cell program, it is especially important for those of us in the Bay Area to educate ourselves about these technologies and the challenges they present.

Presenters on April 18 will be:

Richard Hayes, PhD
Executive Director
Center for Genetics and Society

Parita Shah, MPA
Communications Director
Center for Genetics and Society

RESOURCES

Selected resources on the new human biotechnologies are shown below. Search the CGS website for more.

BOOKS AND REPORTS

The California Stem Cell Program at One Year: A Progress Report(Center for Genetics and Society, 2006)

Human Genetic Engineering: A Guide for Activists, Skeptics and the Very Perplexed, by Pete Shanks (Nation Books, 2005)

Living with the Genie: On Technology and the Quest for Human Mastery, by Alan Lightman, Daniel Sarewitz and Christina Desser (eds). (Island Press, 2004)

Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age, by Bill McKibben (Times Books, 2003)

CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS AND PRESENTATIONS

The Next Four Years, The Biotech Agenda, the Human Future: What direction for liberals and progressives? City University of New York, December 2004

Inequality, Democracy, and the New Human Genetic Technologies, The Century Foundation, June 2004, New York City

Gender and Justice in the Gene Age, Ford Foundation, May 2004, New York City

CGS Briefing on human cloning for United Nations delegates, October 2002, New York City

Keynote address by Sierra Club Director Carl Pope, "Between Scylla and Charybdis: Reproductive Freedom after September 11," Annual Convention, National Abortion Rights Action League, November 2001, Washington, D.C.

George J. Annas, "Genism, Racism, and the Prospect of Genetic Genocide," presented at the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, September 2001, Durban, South Africa.

ARTICLES

"The Future of Violence Against Women: Human Rights & the New Genetics, " by Sujatha Jesudason, US Women Without Borders, Feb. 23, 2006.

"Governing biotechnology," by George Annas, Davos Conference Global Agenda Magazine, February 13, 2006.

"Boutique Egg Donations: A New Form of Racism and Patriarchy," DePaul Journal of Health Care Law, February 9, 2006.

"Hold Scientists Accountable," by Richard Hayes, Baltimore Sun, January 17 2006.

"Eggs vs. Ethics in the Stem Cell Debate," by Emily Galpern and Marcy Darnovsky, The NationOnLine, November 2005.

"The Case Against Perfection: What's wrong with designer children, bionic athletes, and genetic engineering", by Michael J. Sandel, The Atlantic, April 2004.

"Human Rights in a Post-human Future." Chapter by CGS Associate Director Marcy Darnovsky in the book Rights and Liberties in the Biotech Age, Sheldon Krimsky and Pete Shorett (eds), Rowman & Littlefield, 2005.