UMaine Sponsors Presentation on Ethical Issues Raised by Biotechnologies
Contact: Nick Houtman, Dept. of Public Affairs and Marketing, 207-581-3777
ORONO, Maine — Biotechnologies such as stem cell lines, genetic engineering and cloning raise ethical questions on topics ranging from individual human rights to property rights. Eric M. Meslin, a bioethicist from Indiana University, will give a presentation on these topics at 4 p.m. Monday, April 18 at the Buchanan Alumni House on the University of Maine campus.
Meslin’s presentation, “Lessons from Dolly, Stem Cells and Biobanking,” is free and open to the public.
Meslin is the 2005 John M. Rezendes Visiting Scholar in Ethics at UMaine. He directs the Indiana University Center for Bioethics. He is also affiliated with the Indiana University School of Medicine where he assistant dean for bioethics and a professor of medicine, of medicine and molecular genetics and of philosophy.
In addition to his public lecture, he will present seminars to students in the UMaine Honors College.
His visit is supported by the John M. Rezendes Ethics Fund, a gift from Dennis Rezendes of Boulder, Colorado to UMaine. In addition to seminars and lectures, the fund encourages students to write an essay on the theme of “Ethics in the Public Domain.” Past essay winners have written on subjects such as media portrayals of women, capital punishment and physician-assisted suicide.
More details about the initiative, including winning essays, are available here.