International biotechnology ethics forum planned

Ethical issues in biotechnology, including controversy and debate about cloning and stem-cell research, headline the first International Bioethics Forum Friday, April 26.

“Defining Life, Changing Life, Owning Life” is the theme for the conference. Forum sponsors include the BioPharmaceutical Technology Center Institute, Promega Corp., the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. Speakers include:

• R. Alta Charo, UW–Madison, Law School, and Antonio Regalado and Lori McGinley, staff reporters, Wall Street Journal, “How Did We Get Here?”;
• Kevin T. FitzGerald, Georgetown University, Catholic Health Care Ethics, and Q. Todd Dickinson, Howrey Simon Arnold & White, former director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, “Owning Life”;
• James Thomson, UW–Madison, “Changing Life.”

The forum will be held at the BioPharmaceutical Technology Center, home to BTCI and Promega Corporation. Friday afternoon discussion topics include faith and biotechnology, intellectual property issues, genetically modified organisms, how science becomes news, human subjects in biomedical research, animal cloning, and the public/private interface of science.

“We need to do all we can to ensure that the interested and affected segments of society can gain access to information – and to the debates – over the future course of biomedical research, ” Chancellor John Wiley says. “This forum is a much-needed platform for serious examination of some of the key issues we face.”

Carl Gulbrandsen, managing director of WARF, agrees: “There is a need to foster thoughtful discussion about scientific advances and their implications for society. This forum provides an excellent opportunity to offer the public a venue for exploring these issues.”

The Bioethics Forum, open to the public, costs $65. Pre-registration is encouraged, but walk-ins are welcome. The program will begin at 9 a.m. and conclude with a reception at 4:30 p.m. In addition to the full-day forum, participants have the option of engaging in laboratory experiments Thursday afternoon and Saturday morning at the BTC. High school teachers may register for a two-day workshop, spending Friday at the forum and Saturday in the lab.

BTC, 5445 E. Cheryl Parkway, is in Fitchburg Center, off of South Fish Hatchery Road, about 2 miles south of Highways 12-18.

For information, call (608) 273-9737.