This conference explored whether and how restrictions on scientific research should be imposed. Specific issues addressed included:
Should controls on "dual use" technologies (used for positive and illegitimate purposes) be imposed at the research stage before the technologies are developed or at the application stage after the technology is available?
How should the current regulatory framework for the control of research risks be modified to address health, safety, social, economic, and ethical concerns about emerging scientific fields?
What can and should be the role of scientists in self-regulating scientific research?
Is there a constitutional right to conduct scientific research in controversial areas?
What is the role and utility of precaution, risk analysis, and technology assessment to foresee the risks of future technologies?
What should be the role of the public and local governments in approving scientific research conducted in their communities?
Interdisciplinary panels of experts addressed these issues with the goal of providing some creative models and useful guidance on whether and how scientific research should be regulated.
Day 1 of the conference provided an overview of the issues and discussed the legal and policy context and the limitations of the "right" to conduct scientific research.
Day 2 focused on three case studies that specifically address current or emerging controversies about whether certain types of science should be restricted:
Hosted by
The Center for the Study of Law, Science, & Technology, ASU College of Law
January 12-13, 2006
Thursday, January 12
2 pm
Welcome: Gary Marchant, Executive Director, Center for the Study of
Law, Science, & Technology, Arizona State University College of Law
2:15-3:45
Panel I: Framing "Forbidding Science"
Leon Kass, Clark Harding Professor, Committee on Social Thought, University of Chicago
Roy Curtiss III, Professor of Life Sciences, ASU
Michael Crow, President, Arizona State University
Moderator: Jane Maienschein, Director, The Center for Biology and Society and Regents' Professor, ASU
3:45-5:15
Panel II: Is There a Right to Conduct Research?
Felice Levine, Executive Director, American Educational Research Foundation
Martin Redish, Louis & Harriet Ancel Professor of Law and Public Policy, Northwestern School of Law
James Weinstein, Amelia Lewis Professor of Constitutional Law, ASU College of Law
Moderator: Gary Marchant, Executive Director, Center for the Study of Law, Science, & Technology, Arizona State University College of Law
5:30-7
Reception - Steptoe and Johnson Rotunda
7-8:30
Evening Speaker: George Poste, Director, The Biodesign Institute and Del E. Webb Distinguished Professor of Biology, Arizona State University
Friday, January 13
8:30-10 am
Panel III: Case Study-Pathogen Research/Biosafety
Ronald Atlas, Graduate Dean, University of Louisville
Gigi Kwik Grönvall, Associate, Center for Biosecurity, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh
Paul S. Keim, Cowden Chair and Regents' Professor, Director, Environmental Genetics & Genomics Center, Northern Arizona University
Moderator : George Poste, Director, The Biodesign Institute and Del E. Webb Distinguished Professor of Biology, Arizona State University
10:30-12
Panel IV: Case Study-Nanotechnology
Stuart Lindsay, Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry/Physics & Astronomy, Center for Single Molecular Biophysics, The Biodesign Institute, ASU
Hope Shand, Research Director, Erosion, Technology & Concentration Group
W. Patrick McCray, Associate Professor & Co-Director, Center for Nanotechnology and Society, University of California at Santa Barbara
Moderator : Daniel Sarewitz, Director, Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes, Arizona State University
12-1 pm
Lunch available for additional cost (see Registration Form link above)
1:30-3
Panel V: Case Study-Cognitive Enhancement
Nick Bostrom, Director, Future of Humanity Institute and Faculty of Philosophy, Oxford University
Carl Elliott, Center for Bioethics, University of Minnesota
Adina Roskies, Department of Philosophy, Dartmouth College
Moderator: Jason Robert, Assistant Professor, The Center for Biology and Society and School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University
3:30-5
Panel VI: Prospects for Governing Research
Mike Rodemeyer, Executive Director, Pew Initiative on Food & Biotechnology
James Wilsdon, Head of Strategy, Demos (UK)
Shobita Parthasarathy, Assistant Professor, Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan
Moderator: Mark Frankel, Director, Scientific Freedom, Responsibility and Law Program, American Association for the Advancement of Science
Conference Co-Sponsors:
Center for the Study of Law, Science, & Technology, ASU College of Law
American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Bar Association, Section of Science and Technology Law
Arizona Consortium for Medicine, Society, and Values
The Biodesign Institute, ASU
The Center for Biology and Society, ASU
Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes, ASU
Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics, ASU
Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Affairs, ASU
