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Bloodlines Technology Hits Home BLOODLINES TECHNOLOGY HITS HOME Are we creating a world that we won’t want to inhabit? Explore this and many other questions in the film, its web site (www.pbs.org/bloodlines) and this discussion guide. Premieres nationally on PBS June 10th, 2003 at 9pm (check local listings) Underwritten by The Human Genome Project of the U.S. Department of Energy W Science and technology, particularly the new genetic and reproductive technologies, are breathtaking in their novelty and promise. They allow us to make and manipulate human life in startling new ways, and most of us are committed to the values they embody, values of knowledge, progress and scientific innovation. Yet even as we are drawn to these new technologies, we are made uneasy by them as they also challenge elcome our ethical, social and legal frameworks. I believe that our strong visceral reactions cannot simply be dismissed as ignorance about what biotechnology can do; in many cases we know what it can do and are still concerned. Our gut reactions reflect a very real moral anxiety about the stability of the world that we know, and the future of the things we care most about. These gut reactions matter—and need to be considered in the classroom as well as in the courts and legislatures—because they point to the ways in which basic principles are challenged by scientific advances. We seldom have the opportunity—or the tools—to explore systematically the rela- tionship between our gut-level feelings and our fundamental beliefs. The intersection of law and biotechnology gives us a unique and compelling chance to do just that—to discover how deeply connected our visceral reactions actually are to democratic notions of autonomy, dignity, equality, privacy and progress. The stories told in the BLOODLINES documentary, web site and discussion guide make us reexamine what it means to be human, to be a parent, to inhabit our bodies and to have rights. We all care about these fundamental ideas, and that is what gives me hope about our ability to make sense of these new technologies. We may disagree about what should be regulated and what should be allowed, but many of us care deeply about what kind of human legacy we are creating. I believe it is incumbent upon us, as participants in a pluralistic democracy, to think hard—and talk a lot—about how we can promote human happiness, both by protecting individuals and by taking advantage of promis- ing technology. I hope that BLOODLINESwill engage people in this exciting and challenging dialogue. I would like to thank the Office of Science at the Department of Energy for its generous support of BLOODLINES. The PBS special and this guide would not have been possible without its support. Noel Schwerin Writer/Producer/Director “Biology is just one way of understanding ourselves. It isn't the only way, but it's a very powerful way, and it has spawned a lot of powerful technologies. But if we say that biology is the exclusive road to human knowledge, we'll just be missing all the other dimensions.” Stuart Newman, Biologist, New York Medical College The BLOODLINES:Technology Hits Home project, including the Please let us know how you are using this guide, the film or PBS special, the web site and this discussion guide, was written, produced the web site by emailing [email protected]. and directed by Noel Schwerin. BLOODLINES was underwritten by Other useful educational tools can be found at, for instance, the Human Genome Project of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of www.accessexcellence.org/21st/TL/; Biological Research, Office of Science. www.med.upenn.edu/bioethic/wol/assignments.shtml; and Visit www.pbs.org/bloodlines. http://www.nytimes.com/learning/index.html. Copyright ©2003 Backbone Media. All rights reserved. Inside this guide This guide provides specific case-driven exercises appropriate for the classroom, as well as more general material build on each other to create an increasingly for someone else’s predicament in another equally for someone else’s for a wider audience. It follows the chapters of the film (Who is a Parent? What is Human? Who has Rights?) and is designed to work in tandem with the web site—which provides history, context and commen- tary on the ethical, legal and social implications of new biotechnologies—and the documentary. In particular, please visit the following sections of the web site for information directly related to the film and this guide: Making Precedent (for role play and context), the Commerce, Ethics and Law Themes (for analysis and BLOODLINES overview), the Timeline and Mapping the Future (for history and context) and Resources (for related links). w they justify those decisions ethically. w they justify those decisions ethically. icipants also learn that serious ethical debate cannot be reduced to simple he appropriate balance should be, for instance, between an individual’s right he appropriate balance should be, for instance, between an individual’s Fact or Fiction? Guessing Game 02 Case 1: Who is a parent? 03 Case 2: What is a family? 04 Case 3: What kind of children should there be? 05 “Reproductive technologies create new opportunities to form families with biological inputs that are different than in the past. We are undertaking a giant social experiment with reproductive technologies, and we’re not quite sure what the ultimate outcome will be.” Lori Andrews, Law and Ethics Scholar Case 4: What is human? 06 Case 5: Who owns your body? 07 still collide when it comes to biotechnology. Finally, the cases in Finally, still collide when it comes to biotechnology. “There is no question more important than what is human. Our whole system is built around the concept that if you are human, you have certain inalienable rights that cannot be taken from you. If we start toying with that concept, then who has this full package of rights, and are we going to start discriminating against people based on how human we consider them to be? On the other hand, if we deal with these types of research too restrictively, we’re going to prevent very valuable therapies and pay a cost as a society.” Patrick Coyne, Attorney and Patent Expert that we do agree about Case 6: Who has rights? 08 the context of a situation can make all difference in what people decide to do, and ho Case 7: Who has responsibility? 09 “There is a sense among people that genetics raises different kinds of issues. It deals with relationships among family members, with intergenerational health risks and with information that is extremely personal and private. So, to the extent that genetics raises those issues and is widely reported in the press, but often misunderstood by the public, it causes a great deal of , viewers confront ethical dilemmas firsthand. Sympathy for a character in one story is not necessarily compatible with support unease.” Mark Rothstein, Law and Ethics Scholar BLOODLINES complex moral landscape, one in which In compelling case. Interests compete, and users of this guide have to think for themselves about what they feel, t interest—in the welfare of a child. Part to make private family-building decisions and other peoples’ interest—even the state’s either/or arguments, and that even the values www.pbs.org/bloodlines 1 F ACT OR FICTION? Also see Fact or Fiction at www.pbs/org/bloodlines. Advances in biomedicine—particularly in genetic and reproductive technology—often seem like science fiction. Explore your assumptions and test your knowledge by playing this simple game. Only one statement of each pair is correct. The false statement, however, is surprisingly close to the truth. Can you guess? (please see answers on back cover) A British company that uses DNA for paternity A small Western nation has contracted with a pri- testing now offers a range of luxury items based vate biotechnology company to give the company on a person’s unique DNA signature. Shoppers access to its citizens’ medical records. The can order jewelry, rugs and engraved crystal 1 nation’s legislature made the deal on behalf of its designed in patterns based on their actual DNA constituents without requiring individualized sequence. The DNA patterns are reportedly precise informed consent from any. A enough to positivelyB identify an individual. Fertility doctors in the U.S. are able to create an In the 1980s, British scientists created cross- artificial womb made from a woman’s own endo- species chimeras, so-called “geeps,” by combining metrial cells. Designed to allow women with the embryos of sheep and goats and letting them damaged or missing wombs to conceive children, grow to become full-size animals. Now, in an the artificial womb is made of a matrix of the attempt to track and find cures for single gene woman’s own cells grown on biodegradeable 2 disorders, American scientists have engineered material in the shape of a uterus. Embryos are human “she-male” combinations by injecting “implanted” or attached to the artificial womb human male cells into human female embryos and transferred back into the woman, and have and allowing themA to develop for six days. B survived for 30 days. A well-known artist in the U.S. has created Alba, a Chinese researchers have created part-human, genetically engineered fluorescent bunny, as a work part-rabbit embryos by inserting the nucleus from of art. The artist worked with scientists in Europe a young boy’s cell into the hollowed-out egg of a to insert a jellyfish gene (that creates fluorescence) rabbit. Intended to make embryos for stem cell 3 into the embryo of a rabbit, and considers Alba to research, the hybrids developed for several days be part of a critical discussion about transgenic art.
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  • Dr. Stuart Newman Declaration
    1 SWEENEY, DAVIDIAN, & GREENE LLP James F. Sweeney (SBN 124527) 2 Ben Davidian (SBN 94965) Stephen J. Greene, Jr. (SBN 178098) 3 Stephen R. McCutcheon, Jr. (SBN 191749) 8001 Folsom Boulevard, Ste. 101 4 Sacramento, CA 95826 Telephone: (916) 388-5170 5 Facsimile: (916) 388-0357 6 Attorneys for Real Parties In Interest 7 SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 8 COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO 9 UNLIMITED JURISDICTION 10 PAUL BERG, Ph.D; ROBERT N. KLEIN; and ) Case No. 04CS01015 11 LARRY GOLDSTEIN ) 8001 ) DECLARATION OF DR. STUART A. S S ACRAMENTO WEENEY 12 ) NEWMAN, PH.D. IN OPPOSITION TO Petitioners, F ) PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDATE OLSOM A 13 ) AND ALTERNATIVE WRIT OF TTORNEYS AT v. , D ) MANDATE/ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE AVIDIAN B 14 ) , OULEVARD KEVIN SHELLEY, Secretary of State of C ) Hearing Date: August 4, 2004 ALIFORNIA 15 California, ) Time: 1:30 p.m. & ) Dept.: 11 G 16 ) Judge: Hon. Gail Ohanesian L Respondent. AW REENE , ) S UITE 17 ) 95826 GEOFF BRANDT, State Printer; TOM LLP MCCLINTOCK; H. REX GREENE; JOHN M. ) 101 18 ) MORLACH; JUDY NORSIGIAN; FRANCINE ) 19 COETAUX; TINA STEVENS; DOES I through ) X, inclusive; ) 20 ) Real Parties in Interest ) 21 ) 22 23 I, STUART A. NEWMAN, depose, declare, and state as follows: 24 1. I am a member of the faculty in the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy at 25 the New York Medical College in Valhalla, New York. I am not party to the instant proceeding. 26 If called as a witness, I could competently testify to the following from own personal knowledge.
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