Since the start of the Human Genome Project, bioethicist and geneticists have speculated that genetic information can have large impacts on how people understand what they—and other people—are responsible for or responsible to do. That issue is the focus of “Do Genetic Findings Impact Perceptions of Personal Responsibility?”, a virtual public symposium on May 28 sponsored by the Center for Research on Ethical, Legal & Social Implications of Psychiatric, Neurologic & Behavioral Genetics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in collaboration with The Hastings Center. Learn more and register.
What is the impact of genetic tests—available via direct-to-consumer testing companies—that claim to predict people’s intellectual aptitude or how much education they are likely to get? A new study finds that they could have negative effects on students’ self-esteem and sense of their educational potential. Lucas J. Matthews, a postdoctoral researcher at The Hastings Center and Columbia University, is the lead author of the study, which was published in Social Psychology of Education. Read more. And read a roundup of new findings on genetics, human behavior, and ethics in Braingenethics, a newsletter produced by Columbia’s ELSI Center and The Hastings Center. The latest issue covers new research on voluntary genomic testing in the workplace, genetics influences on Alzheimer’s disease, and more. Read the latest Braingenethics newsletter.
Ethical Questions About Covid Vaccine Development and Deployment
Covid vaccines were developed with breathtaking speed, and this speed brought great benefits but also came with costs, which were discussed by Hastings Center President Mildred Solomon and Arthur Caplan, a Hastings Center fellow and advisory council member, who is director of the division of medical ethics at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Their conversation on ethical questions about Covid vaccine development and deployment was featured at Berlin Institute of Health’s Virtual Charité Entrepreneurship Summit on May 11. The benefits of rapid Covid vaccine development are clear – about 45% of the U.S. population ages 12 and older has been fully vaccinated. But the costs include significant vaccine hesitancy (in part fueled by a lack of trust that vaccines developed so quickly could be safe) and obstacles to recruiting volunteers for vaccine trials, which are essential to research on the safety and efficacy of vaccines against coronavirus variants. Caplan and Solomon agreed that the costs could be mitigated by better health communication targeted at particular audiences. Watch the conversation.
Michele Moody-Adams Elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences
Hastings Center board member Michele Moody-Adams was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. She is the Joseph Straus Professor of Political Philosophy and Legal Theory at Columbia University. Moody-Adams has published widely on equity and social justice, moral psychology and the virtues, and the philosophical implications of gender and race. She is also the author of a widely cited book on moral relativism, Fieldwork in Familiar Places: Morality, Culture and Philosophy. Her current work includes articles on academic freedom, equal educational opportunity, and democratic disagreement. Her next book, coming out in late 2021, is entitled Making Space for Justice: Social Movements, Collective Imagination and Political Hope. She is also working on a project entitled Renewing Democracy and a book on the thought of Martin Luther King, Jr. Read more.
Upcoming Events
"Binocularity: A Conceptual Tool for Comprehending and Respecting Persons." Senior research scholar Erik Parens will be presenting as part of the Montreal Health Ethics Conference Series 2021: Wellness, Health, and Human Flourishing. May 27, 12 pm EST.
"Do Genetic Findings Impact Perceptions of Responsibility?" sponsored by the Center for Research on Ethical, Legal and Social Implications of Psychiatric, Neurologic & Behavioral Genetics and Columbia Irvine Medical Center in collaboration with The Hastings Center. May 28, 9 am EST.
"Building Effective Stakeholder and Public Engagement Strategies for Vector Control Projects." Research scholar Carolyn Neuhaus will speak at the ANTI-Vec Webinar Series. June 3, 8:30 am EST.
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