AAAAI Coverage — Keynote Address
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Kirk Walters of The Toledo Blade |
Technology in the 21
st century has eased us of most of the physical burdens our grandparents and great-grandparents had to endure, but certainly some of our modern-day conveniences have come at a price. Our society has entered into somewhat of an ethical crisis, plagued by issues like energy conservation and artificial life.
Can I throw recyclable products in the trash guilt-free? Do I feel comfortable eating meat from a cloned animal? What exactly will happen to surplus embryos from in vitro fertilization?
Lord Robert Winston gave conference attendees several points to ponder about this last question during his keynote address about forgotten risks in the stem cell debate on Saturday. The British government and public generally have accepted stem cell research much more readily than the U.S. had, said the professor from the Imperial College in London. For many of our friends across the pond, it's a fairly simple ethical issue - it is far better to potentially save lives than to waste embryos.
However, the stem cell debate has been far from clear-cut in the States. The scientific and religious community have warred over the issue, and the government even weighed in when President George W. Bush vetoed an embryonic stem cell research bill, saying it crossed a moral boundary. Lord Winston suggested that the government's disapproval could warrant more harm than good.
While experimentation with stem cells has seen some amazing successes, embryonic stem cell research also entails some massive problems that have not been solved. He stressed that this fragile field needs some sort of regulation or scrutiny. Lack of government approval also pushes stem cell research into the private sector, whose research results are not often met with confidence from the public.
Lord Winston emphasized that more open engagement between the scientific/health care community and the general public is a crucial part of the solution to addressing this distrust. Science is not black and white, it's uncertain, he said. He urged attendees to beware of certainty about new scientific discoveries and to remember nearly every new scientific achievement exaggerates its true value and carries along with it a forgotten risk.
If scientists more openly communicate these risks and in turn listen to the public's fears and concerns, we may be able to bridge some of the gap between science and the masses through more honest dialogue. Such a relationship would provide a more productive forum to discuss new scientific and technological advances and help move them forward.