Microsoft word - 2010-07-12 - public forum on 31 july 2010 _flyer_.doc

Is Transcending Natural Boundaries
Ethical?
Reservation: Free
admission, but reservation required.
Please reserve your seats with Mr Wilson Wu at 6773 6475 or [email protected] with your name, institution / organisation and contact details by 26 July 2010 (Monday) Maxwell Auditorium, Science Centre Singapore Organisers:
Centre for Biomedical Ethics, National University of Singapore Programme
1.00 – 1.30 pm Registration
1.30 – 2.00 pm Stem Cells from Bench to Bedside
Professor Søren Holm, Professor of Bioethics, University of Manchester, UK 2.00 – 2.15 pm Q&A
2.15 – 2.45 pm Nespresso, Red Bull, Chardonnay, Viagra, Modafinil,
Samaritanine, Orgasmatrons, Androcur, and the Sort of
World We Will End Up With – Some Ethical Arguments
Regarding Enhancement
Professor Inez de Beaufort, Professor of Health Care Ethics,
Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

2.45 – 3.00 pm Q&A
3.00 – 3.45 pm Refreshments and Meet the Speakers
Prof Søren Holm
Professor of Bioethics, Centre for Social Ethics and
Policy and the Institute of Science, Ethics and
Innovation, University of Manchester, UK

Stem Cells from Bench to Bedside


Abstract

The first stem cell therapies based on stem cell lines are slowly moving from the
laboratory bench to the hospital bedside. This talk will analyse the ethical issues
that the first trials involving stem cell therapies will raise. It will argue that the
traditional issues concerning the moral status of the embryo and possible
complicity in embryo destruction are not the most important issues to consider.
Much more important to discuss are issues surrounding off-label use and the use
outside of rigorously controlled research settings.
About the Speaker

Søren Holm is a Danish doctor and philosopher. He is Professor of Bioethics at
the Centre for Social Ethics and Policy and the Institute of Science, Ethics and
Innovation, University of Manchester and Professor of Medical Ethics (part-
time) at the Centre for Medical Ethics, University of Oslo.
He is also a current member of the UK Stem Cell Bank Steering Committee and
the Nuffield Council on Bioethics and has previously been a member of the
Danish Council of Ethics. He has written extensively about stem cells and about
clinical research ethics.
Prof Inez de Beaufort
Professor of Health Care Ethics, Erasmus Medical
Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Nespresso, Red Bull, Chardonnay, Viagra,
Modafinil, Samaritanine, Orgasmatrons,
Androcur, and the Sort of World We Will
End Up With – Some Ethical Arguments
Regarding Enhancement

Abstract

There is a heated debate on the ethical issues surrounding enhancement of
humans. Coffee, mascara, high heels, alcohol, jogging, perfume, vitamins, yoga,
are just a few of the many enhancers we use. What is enhancement, can it be
distinguished from therapy? I will discuss some of the arguments in favour and
the arguments against enhancement using mostly examples of different kind of
enhancement from the cognitive area (e.g. concentration pills), beauty (cosmetic
esthetic surgery) and the improvement of health (vaccination). Is enhancement
good as it contributes to human well-being, and is there a moral obligation to do
good? How about the idea that there is nothing new under the sun and that
humans have been enhancing themselves since their very beginning. Cleopatra
bathed in asses milk, we have liposuction yet on the other hand, is idea that
enhancement is against nature, artificial, and may lead to injustice as some
forms will not be available to all who want or need them. Finally many fear
enhancement if it were to become an instrument in the hands of governments
who want to rule citizens as herds of simple sheep (the Orwellian '1984'
perspective). Enhancement has always been there, but the different technologies
now available have made the ethical questions more complicated.
About the Speaker

Inez de Beaufort is Professor of Health Care Ethics and Head of the Department
of Medical Ethics and Philosophy of Medicine at the Erasmus Medical Centre
in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She has published on different subjects in
medical ethics, e.g. human research, reproductive technologies, personal
responsibility for health, the elderly (euthanasia and dementia) and public health
issues. Together with Frans Meulenberg she writes a medical ethical soap story
in the Journal of Medical Ethics. Present research themes are ethics and obesity,
ethics and paediatrics, ethics and the elderly, ethics and beauty, and medical
ethics in literature and films. She has been a member of many ethics committees
of hospitals and of national organisations. She is a member of the European
Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies, an honorary member of the
Dutch Health Council, a member of a regional euthanasia review committee,
and member of the Dutch National Committee for Ethics and Medical Research.

Source: http://www.ies.org.sg/publication/enewsletter/SSC31Jul10.pdf