Institute of Ideas

Past Events

The Institute of Ideas in association with Pfizer present

Genes and Society Festival

Venue: Battersea Arts Centre

Date: April 26, 2003 to April 27, 2003

THIS EVENT HAS NOW TAKEN PLACE

Genetics is one of the most-high profile issues of the day. New discoveries generate media coverage almost everyday and spark excitement, awe, fear and contention in equal measure. Genetic discoveries are seen as having significant implications for health, medicine, reproduction, religion, food, the environment, industry, insurance, employment, privacy, self-identity and even terrorism. The impact of genetics goes way beyond the laboratory with concerns and interest being reflected in popular culture through film, TV, art, and heated media discussions.

April 2003 marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of Crick and Watson's famous paper on the structure of DNA in the scientific journal Nature. The Institute of Ideas' weekend-long Genes and Society Festival, in association with Pfizer, brought together a host of scientists, writers, social commentators, regulators, philosophers, artists and campaigners to reflect on and debate the many implications of genetic discoveries and advances.

Does genetics throw up uniquely new and difficult ethical dilemmas? Can scientists, industry and government be trusted to employ genetic technologies to the benefit of all? Have we become too suspicious of those involved in science? Are there any moral or natural limits to what humans should attempt to manipulate and control? Are we overreacting to the unfamiliar? These are only a few of the important and varied questions discussed.

Tony Gilland, Institute of Ideas

Opening Plenary

Genetics: Hype and Reality

Saturday 26 April - 11.00-12.30 - BAC, Main House

Since the publication of Crick and Watson's famous DNA paper 50 years ago scientists have learned to isolate individual genes, identify their functions and transfer them from one organism to another. In June 2000 a rough draft of the approximately 30,000 to 35,000 human genes that make up the human genome was published to much fanfare. Our increasing ability to understand and manipulate genes could lead to significant benefits. But genetic engineering has provoked fear as well as excitement. This opening session at the festival will reflect on what has actually been achieved to date, the developments on the horizon, and the wider social implications of this powerful technology. What's hype, what's reality?

Genetics and Ethics

Should we worry about eugenics?

Saturday, 26 April - 2.00-3.30 - BAC, Main House

Genetic screening techniques offer the prospect of improving the chances of women giving birth to children free from debilitating genetic defects. Some have labelled this development 'eugenics', raising the spectre of the Nazis. Have we become so preoccupied with perfection that we want to eliminate those who are merely different? Is it 'eugenics', or do critics who are concerned about our attitudes towards disability abuse the term? What is eugenics?

Keynote Address:

Genes, Privacy and a Genetic Underclass

Saturday, 26 April - 4.00-5.30 - BAC, Main House

Medical researchers are keen to collect information about our DNA in their quest to understand diseases. Employers and insurance companies are increasingly interested in the future health problems of their employees and customers. As genetics advances should we worry about our privacy? Will information collected about our DNA be used to improve our lives or to control them? Will some of us become a genetic underclass, or will scientific advances benefit everyone?

Stem Cells - prospects and barriers

Saturday, 26 April - 6.30-8.00 - BAC, Gallery .

Research on embryonic stem cells could lead to new treatments for patients with degenerative diseases of the heart, liver, kidneys and cerebral tissue. In the UK, after protracted and heated political debate, it is now legal to clone human embryos for research and medical purposes. In the United States embryonic stem cell research has been denied public funds and legislative moves are afoot to outlaw the cloning of human embryos for any purpose. What are the prospects for this research internationally and what can the US learn from the UK public policy debate?

Discovery Film Screening: DNA: The Promise and the Price

Saturday, 26 April - 4.00-5.30 - BAC, Studio 1

An examination of how Crick and Watson's extraordinary discovery of the structure of DNA has revolutionised the world we live in. DNA: The Promise and the Price examines how far we have some and poses some challenging questions for our genetic future

Genetics and Progress

Intellectual Property and Developing Countries - which way forward?

Saturday, 26 April - 2.00-3.30 - BAC, Lower Hall

Genetic science is big business, and companies move quickly to patent genetic discoveries. Business needs to earn a return on its investments and argues that without patent protection there would be no breakthroughs. Critics counter that the common heritage of humanity is being privatised and that developing countries cannot afford to meet the costs of patented technologies. How can we best encourage the development of new products from genetic science and ensure that they don't only benefit the rich?

GM Crops and the Developing World - who decides?

Saturday, 26 April - 4.00 -5.30 BAC, Lower Hall

Has the developing world become a battle ground for the competing interests of Western multinationals and campaign groups? China and India have both embraced GM technology and 75 per cent of biotech farmers are based in the developing world. Yet Zambia refuses to accept GM grain as food aid, concerned about whether the technology will have unforeseen consequences and fearing that it won't be allowed to export its produce to European countries opposed to GM. What are the benefits of this technology for developing countries and who decides?

GM Crops - time to say yes?

Saturday, 26 April - 6.30-8.00 - BAC, Lower Hall

Farm-scale trials of GM crops in the UK will be complete by the end of this year. The government is expected to make a decision on whether to allow the commercial use of GM either this year or next. Are we now in a position to start experimenting with this technology? Or are the benefits and potential pitfalls still too uncertain? What should be learnt from this debate for the implementation of other new technologies? Is the caution that has been exercised to date a step forwards or back?

Genetic Science in the Developing World Sunday

27 April - 3.00-4.00 - BAC, Cafe

Tracey Brown, director of Sense about Science, explores the latest genetic research aimed at improving the lives of people in developing countries with Diran Makinde, Professor of Animal Science, University of Venda for Science and Technology, South Africa and Dr Julian Ma, Department of Oral Medicine & Pathology, Guy's Hospital London.

Genetics and Reproduction

Reproductive Cloning - what's wrong with it?

Sunday, 27 April - 11.30-1.00 - BAC, Main House

Human reproductive cloning was outlawed in the UK in 2001. It is widely accepted that the dangers to any child born as a clone, and the risk of fetal abnormalities, mean reproductive cloning is currently too dangerous. But what if these scientific and technical limitations could be overcome? If cloning offers infertile people an opportunity to have children, is there anything intrinsically wrong with that? Why has the prospect of human cloning generated such revulsion?

Parental Choice and Children's Welfare - is there a conflict?

Sunday, 27 April - 2.30-4.00 - BAC, Main House

Advances in infertility treatment have helped more people have children. But recent advances, like pre-implantation genetic diagnosis and sperm sorting, have opened up other possibilities. For example, attempting to select the sex of your child or using tissue-matching techniques to have a child who can donate to a seriously ill sibling. Do we have too instrumental an attitude to children? Or are we too suspicious of parents' motives?

Genes and Identity: Genetic inheritance and psychological welfare

Sunday 27 April - 4.30-6.00 - BAC, Main House

Is knowledge of our genetic ancestry important to our sense of self and identity? Should the law be changed to allow donor offspring to know more about their biological fathers? Should sperm donors have rights over their biological children? Or does all this undermine children's relationships with the people who actually bring them up, and encourage dissatisfied adults to chase genetic ghosts.

In Conversation - lessons from Dolly Sunday

27 April, 2.30-3.30 - BAC, Gallery

Dr Harry Griffin Acting Director of the Roslin Institute talks to Toby Andrew about the legacy of Dolly the sheep.

Cultural Reflections

Primitive Streak

Exhibits from Helen Storey's Primitive Streak - a fashion collection chronicling the first 1000 hours of human embryonic development - will be on display throughout the festival.

Genetic Headlines - how capable are the media at reporting genetic news?

Saturday 26 April - 11.15-12.45 - BAC, Lower Hall

Science correspondents generally report accurately, but newspapers also contribute to panics and prejudice. The public discussion of GM food and cloning is skewed by sensational headlines. But what about science itself? Scientists are sometimes poor communicators, commercial labs often hype their discoveries, and scientific institutions are not above spin. How can the media get it right?

Genetic Broadcasting - Science on TV

Saturday 26 April - 2.00-3.30 - BAC, Studio 1

What can television do that other mediums cannot, and what are its limitations? Do science programmes sucessfully combine the facts with the ethical questions they raise? And what role should TV have in helping us make our minds about these quesitons? Has TV abandoned intelligent fact-based programmes and replaced them with sensational presenter-led pieces more reliant of gimmicks than substance.

Genetics and Art - scientific inspiration?

Saturday, 27 April - 4.00-5.30 - BAC, Gallery

Will genetics have the same creative effect on art as the development of anatomy during the Renaissance? Many contemporary works of art, from Mark Quinn's DNA portrait to Helen Storey's Primitive Streak, have been inspired by new scientific insights in genetics. Do these works explore the human condition in new ways?

Science in Performance

Saturday, 26 April - 6.30-8.00 BAC, Café

From astronomy to anatomy, science can provide a dramatic spectacle. Can theatre contribute to the public understanding of science? Does it do justice to scientific ideas? Should it try?

Science Comedy: Let's twist again, 50 years of DNA

Saturday, 26 April - 8.30-9.00 BAC, Cafe Timandra Harkness and Helen Pilcher, the Comedy Research Project

Sci-Fi Futures - popular films and contemporary concerns

Sunday, 27 April - 11.30-1.00 - BAC Studio 1

In recent years, genetic science has proved fertile material for film-makers. But the speculation seems entirely negative. Think of the Nazi cloning in The Boys from Brazil, or the rampaging DNA-cloned dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. In Gattaca and Minority Report, technology is abused by authoritarian regimes. Why is the depiction of genetic science on film so pessimistic?

Sci-Fi Futures - literature and contemporary concerns

Sunday 27 April - 2.30-4.00 - BAC, Studio 1

In 1984, George Orwell observed that, 'In the early twentieth century, the vision of a future society unbelievably rich, leisured, orderly, and efficient … was part of the consciousness of nearly every literate person.' Following the experience of war, fascism and the bomb, writers like Orwell set about rewriting that future. What does science fiction, and science in fiction, tell us about ourselves and society today?

Genetics and Education

Teaching Genetics - facts or ethics?

Sunday 27 April - 11.30-1.00 - BAC, Studio 2

With the government piloting a new issues and media based science curriculum in schools, is the rigour of scientific discipline giving way to a softer approach? Should pupils learn the mechanics of inheritance before considering the morality of genetically modified organisms? Or are the ethics of genetics worthy of study in their own terms?

Sixth form Genetics Debate

Sunday 27 April - 2.30-4.00 - BAC Studio 2 GM: Frankenstein Food or a Technology to be Celebrated?

Debate involving schools from the Institute of Ideas Debating Matters competition: Graveney School versus Harvey Grammar School

Genes and Intelligence - what is intelligence?

Sunday 27 April - 4.30-6.00 - BAC, Main House

What contribution has natural science made to our understanding of intelligence, and how is this informing our view of human nature? How enlightening are recent achievements in behavioural genetics and developmental cognitive science? Might scientists provide a lead in reinvigorating our conception of ourselves as active subjects, or is science necessarily deterministic?

In Conversation - science education

Sunday 27 April - 4.30-6.00 - BSC, Cafe Professor Sir Harry Kroto Nobel Laureate and Professor of Chemistry at the University of Sussex talks to Tony Gilland about the importance of science education.

Genetic controversies

Film screening - Motherland: a genetic journey

Saturday 26 April - 11.00-1.00 - BAC, Studio 1

Shot in England, the USA, Jamaica and Africa, the film follows three people using science to trace their genetic roots. Their ancestors were enslaved in Africa. Now thanks to DNA, they can 'return'. Does this raise fundamental questions about who we are?

How Long Should We Want to Live? Genes and Longevity

Saturday 26 April - 2.00-3.30 - BAC Gallery

Will genetic advances help us to live longer, in a healthy and active state? What are the implications for society's resources of us all living longer? Who wants to live forever?

Genetics and Disability

Saturday 26 April - 4.30-5.30 - BAC, Studio 2

Does the aspiration to eliminate disability through genetic technology necessarily denigrate the disabled as people?

Anthraxiety: the threat of biological and chemical terrorism

Sunday 27 April - 11.30-1.00 - BAC, Gallery

How worried should we really be about the threat of biological or chemical terrorist attacks? What are the implications of the terror alert for scientists exchanging and discussing potentially sensitive information?

Born bad? Genes and violence

Sunday 26 April - 4.30-5.30 - BAC, Studio 2

Are violent criminals genetically predisposed to behave the way they do? If so, can they ever escape their genetic legacies? Are genetic explanations simply a moral cop-out?

The Institute of Ideas would like to thank: Joe Kaplinsky and Jan Bowman, convenors of Genetics and Progress strand, Shirley Lawes, convenor of Genetics and Education strand, Ellen Raphael and Ellie Lee, convenors of Genetics and Reproduction strand, Timandra Harkness, Natasha Hulugalle, Claudia Wood, James Gledhill, Siobhan Jones, Dave Wilson, Toby Andrew, John Gillott, Juliet Tizzard, Tom Morris, Emma Stenning, Kate McGrath, Greg Piggot and all the staff at BAC, Joe Ewart, Society, Richard Northover and David Baird, ZeroFive web design

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