Socio-cultural, bioethical and political implications of developments in the biosciences

PDF programme   / Registration form  / Instructions for participants / Map

The Brocher Foundation’s primary focus on ELSI issues related to the new biosciences provides an excellent forum through which members of SATSU’s former Marie Curie European training programme can consolidate their work as well as engage in dialogue with others working in the field.

The Symposium is organised around three themes:

• The changing boundaries of human, animal and society

• The new forms of governance engaged in the social regulation of these boundary shifts

• The new social and cultural relations that are made possible by these changes

Changing boundaries of human, animal and society

As a result of the play of genetics, informatics and tissue engineering, the boundaries of the human body become more permeable and more plastic. As Waldby (2000) emphasises, biomedicine itself depends on this ‘malleability’ of the body in order to accommodate the vast range of biomedical interventions that medics deploy. This malleability is extended through the increasing use of chimeras in stem cells research, the deposition of body tissue/DNA in genetic databases and tissue-banks and the global movement of biological tissue (such as embryonic stem cell lines) via international research and commercial networks. How far do these changing boundaries create new challenges for our understanding of our bodies, ownership of tissue, and rights and obligations as patients and citizens?

The new forms of governance engaged in the social regulation of these boundary shifts

How is governance at the level of formal regulation by state actors and agencies being complemented and in some contexts in tensions with new forms of governance found in nonstatutory areas; three are increasingly prominent and need examination: the family which has to handle the ‘risky relations’ of the new genetics and the promise and challenge of new reproductive technologies and clinical application of tissue engineering (in areas such as Alzheimer’s disease; the consumer market wherein the genetics and regenerative technologies are being packaged as objects of consumption by commercial companies (as in cord blood banking); and finally the reframing of governance as a matter of choice rather than regulation at the level of the individual. What bioethical, political and cultural implications for the social management of biosciences emerge from these changes, and with what lessons for policy?

Within formal regulatory arenas, genetic diagnostics, in numerous forms and applications (including pre-implantation and pre-natal screening, diagnostics for the detection of late-onset adult disorders, etc) is increasingly changing peoples’ health and reproductive experience. In turn, these applications present policy makers and healthcare providers with the difficult challenges of responsible social management. At stake are the sometimes fraught relationships between different stakeholders including patients, clinical specialisms, disability groups, government and industry.

The new social relations that are made possible by these changes

How far do the changes noted above bring about new types of social relationship? For example, the increasing availability of eggs for donation for IVF or embryonic tissue for stem cells research as well as the commercialisation of both (especially in the US) create tensions between the gift relationship underpinning donation and the exploitation of tissue as private property. At the same time, aspirations associated with the long-term therapeutic use of regenerative medicine may – as in banking cord blood from a baby to derive autologous stem cells for future use creates new types of familial expectations and responsibilities that may bring new pressures on families in the decades ahead, and problems for health services where family breakdown occurs. Moreover, as tissue becomes a more mobile object in time and space, new questions about traceability and safety will arise that need to be understood today.

Programme :

Registration Form :