CID Archive: Events Archive: Past Conferences
Conference on Biotechnology and Globalization: Ethical Considerations
24 September - 25
September 2001
Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Organized by the Center for International Development at Harvard University, the
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, KSG; and the
Third World Academy of Sciences
Conference Summary
Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Center for International Development, together with the Third World Academy of Sciences, are organized a two-day conference on Biotechnology and Globalization: Ethical Considerations. The Conference was organized under the auspices of the "Biotechnology and Globalization" Project funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.
Ethics claims to address the subject of values in a practical manner. An ethical discussion based on rational arguments is supposed to reduce the appeal to emotion in controversial issues and to foster public confidence. Ethical issues have been extensively invoked in discussions regarding biotechnology. These issues are closely tied to fundamental differences in worldviews among major regions of the world. Often, depending on the respective worldview, other ethical theories are applied in order to strengthen one particular position. In this context, ethics has to be regarded in a critical light as well, and ways must be found to determine which ethical approach is most appropriate for a specific case.
The conference presented the existing ethical theories (for example, utilitarian and transcendental ethics, biocentric and anthropocentric approaches) and how they are used in the context of agricultural biotechnology and development. Furthermore, the conference focused on the key ethical issues that influence policy discussions on agricultural biotechnology.
This conference was the third of a planned series looking at different aspects of biotechnology and globalization. Other conferences in the series included the International Conference on Biotechnology in the Global Economy: Science and the Precautionary Principle, held in September 2000; as well as ones on Globalization of Research and Development, which took palce on September 11-13, 2001; Biotechnology in Developing Countries; Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge; and Institutional Innovation.
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© 2007 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.
Last revised 10/31/2007