Documents biotechnology 85 results

"Should we make people healthier, smarter, and longer-lived if genetic and medical advances enable us to do so? Matti Häyry asks this question in the context of genetic testing and selection, cloning and stem cell research, gene therapies and enhancements. The ethical questions explored include parental responsibility, the use of people as means, the role of hope and fear in risk assessment, and the dignity and meaning of life. Taking as a starting point the arguments presented by Jonathan Glover, John Harris, Ronald M. Green, Jürgen Habermas, Michael J. Sandel, and Leon R. Kass, who defend a particular normative view as the only rational or moral answer, Matti Häyry argues that many coherent rationalities and moralities exist in the field, and that to claim otherwise is mistaken."

"Since no occupational accidents or diseases have been attributed specifically to the use of constructions containing recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (rDNA), this paper evaluates the occupational health risks in industries utilizing genetically manipulated organisms mainly on the basis of theoretical considerations. Bacteria, filamentous fungi, yeasts, and mammalian cells in culture are in use. For each of these systems the possible hazards are considered. Concerning microbial production systems, infections are regarded as the main problem, but the risk of infection is considered extremely low. As for cells in culture, only dormant viruses are regarded as problematic, but well-defined production cell lines should not contain such undetected and dangerous viruses. Overall, the additional risks posed by rDNA-modified micro-organisms are minor. Only long-term observations can, however, confirm this assumption, and consequently the highest feasible containment measures should still be used in the years to come."

"There is a widely held conception that progress in science and technology is our salvation, and the more of it, the better. This, however, is an oversimplified and even dangerous attitude. While the future will certainly offer huge changes due to such progress, it is far from certain that all of these changes will be for the better. The unprecedented rate of technological development that the 20th century witnessed has made our lives today vastly different from those in 1900. No slowdown is in sight, and the 21st century will most likely see even more revolutionary changes than the 20th, due to advances in science, technology and medicine. Particular areas where extraordinary and perhaps disruptive advances can be expected include biotechnology, nanotechnology, and machine intelligence. We may also look forward various ways to enhance human cognitive and other abilities using, e.g., pharmaceuticals, genetic engineering or machine-brain interfaces - perhaps to the extent of changing human nature beyond what we currently think of as human, and into a posthuman era. The potential benefits of all these technologies are enormous, but so are the risks, including the possibility of human extinction. This book is a passionate plea for doing our best to map the territories ahead of us, and for acting with foresight, so as to maximize our chances of reaping the benefits of the new technologies while avoiding the dangers."

"Technological change is often seen as something that follows its own logic - something we may welcome, or about which we may protest, but which we are unable to alter fundamentally. This reader challenges that assumption and its distinguished contributors demonstrate that technology is affected at a fundamental level by the social context in which it develops. General arguments are introduced about the relation of technology to society and different types of technology are examined: the technology of production; domestic and reproductive technology; and military technology.
The book draws on authors from Karl Marx to Cynthia Cockburn to show that production technology is shaped by social relations in the workplace. It moves on to the technologies of the household and biological reproduction, which are topics that male-dominated social science has tended to ignore or trivialise - though these are actually of crucial significance where powerful shaping factors are at work, normally unnoticed. The final section asks what shapes the most frightening technology of all - the technology of weaponry, especially nuclear weapons.
The editors argue that social scientists have devoted disproportionate attention to the effects of technology on society, and tended to ignore the more fundamental question of what shapes technology in the first place. They have drawn both on established work in the history and sociology of technology and on newer feminist perspectives to show just how important and fruitful it is to try to answer that deeper question. The first edition of this reader, published in 1985, had a considerable influence on thinking about the relationship between technology and society. This second edition has been thoroughly revised and expanded to take into account new research and the emergence of new theoretical perspectives."

"Le débat ouvert depuis plusieurs années, en France notamment, sur le bien-fondé d'introduire et développer des organismes génétiquement modifiés (OGM) a polarisé les différentes parties prenantes, engendrant une grande méfiance de l'opinion publique sur le sujet et contribuant souvent à brouiller les enjeux inhérents à ce domaine. C'est une des raisons pour lesquelles la revue Futuribles a décidé de consacrer la quasi-intégralité de ce numéro de mars aux OGM, espérant ainsi éclairer ses lecteurs sur les tenants et aboutissants qui entourent cette question, au travers de points de vue très divers couvrant les aspects tant économiques, scientifiques, réglementaires, sociologiques…Avant d'entrer dans le détail de ce vaste dossier, Cécile Désaunay propose ici un aperçu de ce que sont les OGM, de l'état de la recherche et des perspectives que ceux-ci pourraient ouvrir à moyen-long terme. Après un rappel de la définition des OGM et de l'essor des recherches en ce domaine, elle présente les principales applications existantes et les axes de recherche privilégiés dans l'industrie (visant surtout à réduire les coûts de production et l'utilisation de produits polluants), l'agriculture, l'alimentation et la médecine. Elle souligne les risques inhérents à cette biotechnologie, pour l'environnement et la santé humaine ou animale, avant de souligner les blocages auxquels est confronté le secteur et les questions que soulève la concentration de la recherche entre les mains d'une poignée de grandes entreprises. Partant de là, chacun pourra apprécier, à l'aune de ses priorités et de ses valeurs, et en se reportant aux très riches articles qui composent ce numéro, le bilan coûts / bénéfices / risques d'une utilisation à grande échelle des OGM."

"We provide the first cross-country evidence of the effect of investment by private equity firms on innovation, focusing on a sample of European countries and using Kortum and Lerner's (2000) empirical methodology. Using an 18-country panel covering the period 1991-2004, we study how private equity finance affects patent applications and patent grants. We address concerns about causality in several ways, including exploiting variation in laws regulating the investment behaviour of pension funds and insurance companies across countries and over time. We also control for the standard determinants of innovation like R&D, human capital, and patent protection. Our estimates imply that while private equity investment accounts for 8% of aggregate (private equity plus R&D) industrial spending, PE accounts for as much as 12% of industrial innovation. We also present similar evidence from the biotech industry to alleviate concerns that our results are biased by aggregation."