US-India Workshop: Genetic Determinism, Sikkim, India, December 2003

说明：该奖项支持一个小型美国代表团前往参加将于2003年12月在印度锡金举行的美印遗传决定论研讨会。Drs。纽约州瓦尔哈拉的纽约医学院的Stuart Newman和班加罗尔的印度科学研究所的Vadyanand Nanjundiah是这次会议的组织者，这次会议将对主导现代生物学和医学的基于基因的哲学进行批判性的检验。他们将召开为期五天的国际会议，讨论围绕遗传决定论的理论、应用、伦理和哲学问题。对基因工程的伦理和哲学考虑通常与纯粹的科学和技术问题分开进行审查，没有任何尝试包括医学史或科学史的历史观点。范围：相关问题的讨论对于在实验室工作的生物学家、那些与食品生产和农业有关的人、医疗保健专业人员、哲学家和一般公众都很重要。印度有着伟大的哲学和伦理传统，以及先进的科学文化，似乎即将对大规模的农作物基因操纵做出重大承诺。重要的是，由基因改造引起的所有问题都应作为事关公共利益和公众对科学的理解的问题加以讨论、辩论和广泛传播。

Description: This award supports travel for a small US delegation to participate in the US-India workshop on Genetic Determinism that will be held in Sikkim, India during December 2003. Drs. Stuart Newman, New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY and Vadyanand Nanjundiah, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore are the organizers of the meeting, which will critically examine the gene-based philosophy that dominates modern biology and medicine. They will convene a five-day international meeting to discuss the theoretical, applied, ethical and philosophical issues surrounding genetic determinism. Ethical and philosophical considerations on genetic engineering have typically been examined in isolation from purely scientific and technical ones, without any attempt to include historical perspectives from either the history of medicine or the history of science. Scope: Discussion of relevant issues will be important for biologists working in the laboratory, those concerned with food production and agriculture, medical and health care professionals, philosophers, and the general public. India with its great philosophical and ethical tradition, and advanced scientific culture appears to be on the verge of making a major commitment to large-scale genetic manipulation of crop plants. It is important that the full range of issues raised by genetic modification be discussed, debated and broadly disseminated as issues of vital public interest and public understanding of science.