Hastings Center to offer preconference symposium on ethics of new genetic technologies

The Hastings Center, a bioethics center in New York State, today announced it will present a pre-conference symposium on “New Genetic Technologies: Ethical Debates and Global Science Policy” in connection with WCSJ2017. Legal and ethics scholars will join science journalists in exploring the issues surrounding human gene editing, GMOs and gene drives.

The symposium is being organized in conjunction with an international project, “Gene Editing and Human Flourishing,” organized by the Hastings Center. The project combines scholarship, public events and professional development for teachers in focusing on the potential social and ethical implications of using gene editing methods on human germline cells (sperm, eggs, and embryos), creating changes that would be passed on from one generation to the next. The project is funded by the Templeton Foundation.

WCSJ2017 attendees will be able to view program details and register for the symposium online as part of conference registration beginning May 1.