APPENDIX
GOING DEEPER — APPENDIX:
RESPOURCES TO LIVE IN
THE BRAVE NEW WORLD
In this appendix we’d like to suggest how you can “go deeper” on this issue by taking advantage of several kinds of resources:
1. Curriculum and books
2. Magazines, websites, and organizations
3. Academic programs
4. Sources of information from the book’s chapters
We have introduced you to the main points of discussion as they currently exist; now you can become better informed and more effective in your response by becoming acquainted with some of the excellent materials available to you.
1. CURRICULUM AND BOOKS
Sunday School/Small Group Curriculum:
Colson, Charles and Nigel M. de S. Cameron, Playing God (Loveland, Colo.: Group, 2004). This curriculum features Colson and Cameron in video and audio clips, together with biology professor David Prentice, in twelve weekly segments. This is an ideal package for churches and does not need an expert to lead the group; leader and student guides are provided. Details at www.grouppublishing.com.
Books from a Christian Viewpoint:
These books are accessible to people who do not know much about the subject. Read them all and you will be on your way to becoming an expert.
Bevington, Linda, et al., Basic Questions on Genetics, Stem Cell Research, andCloning (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel, 2004) — very useful introduction in the form of Q and A.
Cameron, Nigel M. de S., The New Medicine: Life and Death after Hippocrates (Chicago: Bioethics Press, 2002) — an overview of the challenges facing medicine with the collapse of the sanctity of life; includes an appendix on the theology of healing.
Colson, Charles and Nigel M. de S. Cameron, eds., Human Dignity in the Biotech Century (Westmont, Ill.: InterVarsity, 2004), includes chapters on many of the issues we discuss in this book, written by experts in science, law, policy, and other fields. This is not an “academic” book; it is meant for Christians who want to learn more of what is happening and how we should respond. It’s the perfect next step after How to Be a Christian in a Brave New World.
Kilner, John F. and C. Ben Mitchell, Does God Need Our Help? Cloning, Assisted Suicide, and Other Challenges in Bioethics (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyn-dale, 2003) — highly recommended overview of key bioethics issues.
Stewart, Gary, et al., Basic Questions on Sexuality and Reproductive Technology (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel, 1998) — another in the Basic Questions series.
Tada, Joni Eareckson, When Is It Right to Die? Euthanasia on Trial (New York: HarperCollins, 1993) — a powerful case against the push for “assisted suicide” and euthanasia. We thought about including a chapter on euthanasia in this book, but decided against it so we could focus more on the new technologies. But the old issues are not going away, and “euthanasia” has a lot in common with “eugenics.” They are both made-up words, and mean “good death” and “good genes” or “good life.” Yet what they really mean is death designed by choice, and life designed by choice — our choice, not God’s.
Books That May Be Harder to Read, Some by Christians:
These are books that a newcomer to the biotech field might like to read.
Andrews, Lori B., Future Perfect: Confronting Decisions about Genetics (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001) — Lori Andrews is widely seen as the leading US expert on biotech law and is a liberal feminist, but on these new issues we tend to agree with her. Readable and very informative.
Black, Edwin, War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America’s Campaign to Create a Master Race (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2003) — powerful and very readable book that tells the story of American eugenics and its relationship to the Nazis.
Fukuyama, Francis, Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution (New York: Picador, 2002) — as the title says, explores the consequences of our new biotech knowledge. Fukuyama is a major intellectual and the book is not all easy going. But we welcome many of his conclusions.
Kristol, William and Eric Cohen, eds., The Future Is Now: America Confronts the New Genetics (Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2002) — helpful collection of mainly recent essays, speeches, and testimony on the biotech agenda. Kristol is editor of the conservative Weekly Standard.
Meilaender, Gilbert, Bioethics: A Primer for Christians (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1996) — very readable, short book by a philosopher who is also a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics.
Moravec, Hans, Robot: Mere Machine to Transcendent Mind (New York: Oxford, 1999) — a very positive book about artificial intelligence by a guru in the world of robotics.
Rifkin, Jeremy, The Biotech Century: Harnessing the Gene and Remaking the World (New York: Putnam, 1998) — Rifkin is a global leader of the environmental movement, and this book helped popularize the term “biotech century.” A brilliant book that surveys developments in human biotech and also agricultural biotech. Rifkin is very skeptical of humans’ capacity to use their new powers responsibly.
Silver, Lee M., Remaking Eden: Cloning and Beyond in a Brave New World (New York: Avon Books, 1998) — Silver is a biology professor and writes with enthusiasm about the amazing possibilities of the brave new world, which he welcomes. Despite the title (and many Bible quotes), he is not a Christian.
2. MAGAZINES, WEBSITES,
AND ORGANIZATIONS
The magazine Ethics and Medicine is published three times a year and offers unique Christian perspectives on the bioethics/biotech debates. Both the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity and the Center for Bioethics and Culture include Ethics and Medicine in membership packages. You can subscribe direct at www.ethicsandmedicine.com.
A journal called The New Atlantis is now published by the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, DC. It broadly surveys issues of science and technology, though with a special focus on the biotech agenda. You can subscribe at www.thenewatlantis.com.
The Center for Bioethics and Culture is a Christian network with centers in several states that help educate nonspecialists. Its website (www.thecbc.org) has excellent resources, and the free email newsletter carries updates.
The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity, based in Deerfield, Illinois, has a well-stocked website (www.cbhd.org) and networks physicians and others. It includes a list of speakers. We have both spoken more than once at its summer conference.
The Wilberforce Forum’s Council for Biotechnology Policy has a website at www.biotechpolicy.org, and emails a monthly biotech update newsletter.
Go to www.joniandfriends.orgfor key material on biotech issues, especially in relation to disability and the stem cell research debate.
Two key websites that carry basic news and information on their respective subjects are:
www.stemcellresearch.org
www.cloninginformation.org
The Institute on Biotechnology and the Human Future, based at Chicago-Kent College of Law in the Illinois Institute of Technology, brings together Christians and secularists, conservatives and progressives, in addressing the challenges of biotechnology. See www.thehumanfuture.org.
The Christian Medical and Dental Association (www.cmdahome.org) is a network for Christian physicians.
Other groups that include some biotech related materials on their websites are:
National Right to Life Committee (www.nrlc.org)
Family Research Council (www.frc.org)
Concerned Women for America (www.cwfa.org)
Focus on the Family (www.fotf.org)
The website of the President’s Council on Bioethics in Washington, DC, has downloadable copies of key reports by the Council which contain important material (www.bioethics.gov).
When it comes to disability-related issues and how they impact Americans with disabilities, our friends at Not Dead Yet stand on the front lines in safeguarding the most vulnerable among us. Whether it’s writing a friend of the court brief or organizing a quiet protest in front of the Supreme Court, you will find NDY members in their wheelchairs, protecting the rights of the medically fragile.
Not Dead Yet
c/o Progress CIL
7521 Madison St
Forest Park, IL 60130
Phone: 708-209-1500
www.notdeadyet.org
The American Association of People with Disabilities is the largest nonprofit cross-disability member organization in the US, dedicated to ensuring political empowerment for the more than 56 million Americans with disabilities. AAPD works in coalition with other disability organizations for the full implementation and enforcement of disability nondiscrimination laws. The AAPD website has a subscriber news service entitled Justice for All, which provides current action alerts and news items which pertain to the rights of people with disabilities.
AAPD
1629 K Street NW, Suite 503
Washington, DC 20006
Phone: 800-840-8844 (toll free, V/TTY)
www.aapd-dc.org
It is an unfortunate reality that many people with disabilities and their families feel disenfranchised from church life or even the Christian faith. The HumanLifeMatters ministry was established to lift up their innate value and dignity within a church family, under the lordship of Jesus Christ. HumanLifeMatters (HLM) exists to help local churches develop meaningful ministries of inclusion to make people impacted by disabilities indispensable members of their congregations and society. HumanLifeMatters will provide speakers and workshops related to areas such as:
• Sanctity of human life and disability
• Disability and your congregation
• Loss, suffering, and Christian growth
HumanLifeMatters
4417 – 51 Street
Beaumont, AB
Canada
T4X 1C8
Phone: 780-929-9231
www.humanlifematters.com
Christian Life Resources (CLR) has been serving people since 1983 with information and support on life and family issues. Using God’s Word as the motivation, they develop materials and services to guide people in making ethical decisions that are in accordance with Scripture.
Available to you through CLR are books and videos from their extensive lending library, a comprehensive website, brochures, videos, and books that cover timely and difficult topics, and a caring staff willing to help.
Christian Life Resources
2949 N. Mayfair Road, Suite 309
Milwaukee, WI 53222-4304
Phone: 414-774-1331
www.christianliferesources.com
3. ACADEMIC PROGRAMS
Two Christian schools now offer graduate programs for those who want to know more — whether you are an MD or a lawyer or a student considering moving into the bioethics field. Other schools offer individual courses.
Covenant Theological Seminary in Saint Louis has begun offering a graduate certificate in bioethics.
Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois, has since the mid-1990s offered a master’s program in bioethics.
Both of these schools make it possible to complete their programs without moving to campus for long periods; courses are bundled around weekends and into short summer modules, and some can be taken at a distance. Both these programs are cosponsored by bioethics centers. The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity on Trinity’s campus also offers a weeklong summer “institute” program for those who want a taste of serious study without plunging into a new degree. The Covenant program is cosponsored by the St. Louis Center for Bioethics and Culture.
Get more details from the websites: www.covenantsem.eduand www.tiu.edu.
4. SOURCES OF INFORMATION
FROM THE BOOK’S CHAPTERS
References and further sources for each of the chapters are as follows:
Chapter 2
The idea for the section discussing the Larry King interview came from National Review Online, “The Wrong Cure” by Wesley J. Smith, September 9, 2004. The letter from progressive leaders seeking a cloning moratorium can be found on the website of the Center for Genetics and Society, www.genetics-and-society.org. The Council for Responsible Genetics has a website at www.crg.org.
Chapter 4
Edwin Black’s statement about the “Eugenics Record Office” and his discussion of California sterilization are quoted from an article he wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle on November 9, 2003. His description of the raid on the Virginia hill people is from his book War Against the Weak, pages 3 – 4 (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2003). Sources for the story of Carrie Buck include the Eugenics Archive (www.eugenicsarchive.org) and Elof A. Carlson, The Unfit: The History of a Bad Idea (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2001). See also: P. A. Lombardo, “Three Generations, No Imbeciles: New Light on Buck v. Bell.” New York University Law Review 60 (1985): 30 – 62. Christine Rosen’s fine book, Preaching Eugenics, was published in 2004 by Oxford University Press. For information and hundreds of pictures from the American eugenics movement see www.eugenicsarchive.org/eugenics.
Chapter 5
The study on the risks of birth defects is: “The Risk of Major Birth Defects After Intercytoplasmic Sperm Injection and In Vitro Fertilization,” New England Journal of Medicine, March 7, 2002. The article in Time on the same subject has the interesting title: “The Limits of Science,” April 15, 2002. Arthur Caplan’s revealing quote is from Maria Gallagher, www.Life News.com, September 1, 2004. News of the disability lobby of the United Nations is from the Friday Fax for May 28, 2004, of C-FAM. The story of Karen Coveler’s genetic tests is from the New York Times of July 21, 2004. The Times report on how much of an abnormality should be grounds for abortion is from June 20, 2004. The Journal of the American Medical Association’s commentary on the ethics of pre-implantation diagnosis was published on June 27, 2001 (285:24).
Chapter 6
The report on “Copy Cat” is from Nature online for February 14, 2002. The reporter’s comment on the Raelian hoax is from the Independent, a national daily based in London, December 28, 2002. Dr. Richard Seed is quoted from a CNN interview on July 26, 1998. Arnold Schwarzeneg-ger was interviewed on Extra TV on November 15, 2000; quote at www.humancloning.org. Baroness Warnock was interviewed in the UK’s Herald newspaper on July 26, 2002. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s website gives their position: www.ASRM.org. Dr. Jaenisch was speaking to the Ottawa Citizen, September 11, 2002, and the spokesperson for the Humane Society to US Newswire on August 13, 2002. The couple who told Connie Chung that God had approved their cloning are quoted in the New York Daily News for August 11, 2002. The quote from Nobel laureate James Watson is from the UK’s Independent on Sunday, April 13, 2003. The wonderful epitaph for Dolly the sheep was written by Reuters, April 9, 2002.
Chapter 7
The sad story of Sharla Miller’s search for a daughter is quoted from the Orlando Sentinel for July 14, 2004. Laura Howard’s surprise was reported by the Associated Press on July 15, 2004. The assessment of China’s missing babies is by Joseph A. D’Agostino in the Population Research Institute’s Weekly Briefing, February 7, 2005. The warning from the chair of the UK’s Human Genetics Commission comes from the Financial Times for July 16, 2004, and the report of concerns from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority from the Gulf Daily News, July 18, 2004. The report on “our biotech bodies” is taken from US News and World Report for May 31, 2004. The statement from Pope John Paul II is from his encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life), March 25, 1995. The full text of the PBS Frontline interview is at www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/fertility/interviews/cameron.html. Kate’s decision to abort her child with Down syndrome is an example of a much wider problem that is being recognized even in places like the New York Times, “In New Tests for Fetal Defects, Agonizing Choices” by Amy Harmon; June 20, 2004.
Chapter 8
Dr. James Dobson’s comments were quoted at www.Family.org, on June 28, 2004; Steve Milloy’s at www.Foxnews.com, on July 16, 2004. Rebecca Griffin sent Nigel Cameron a copy of her remarkable statement, which was then quoted in part by Charles W. Colson on a Breakpoint broadcast. The amazing stem cell story is from the Korea Times for December 3, 2004. Yet South Korea persists in its desire to do “therapeutic cloning”!
Chapter 9
Tara Schupner quotes the Dutch doctor in an article on www.Kansan.com, November 16, 2004. Tara is deaf. The ban on insurance company testing in the UK was reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, November 5, 2004. President Clinton’s speech about genetic discrimination was made on February 8, 2000. Testimony before Senator Gregg’s committee was reported by Reuters on July 22, 2004. The report on Doris Goldman’s family in the San Jose Mercury News was published on December 6, 2000. Hillary August’s article, “Facing Genetic Discrimination First Hand,” is in Insight 1 (2006) on “Genetic Discrimination,” from the Institute on Biotechnology and the Human Future. The quotes from Christopher Hook, MD, of Mayo Clinic, and Professor Allen Verhey of Hope College, Michigan, are taken from: “When Does Personhood Begin?” by Bob Smietana in Christian ity Today for July 2004, pages 26 and 28.
Chapter 10
Details of Lori Andrews’s book, Future Perfect, are given previously in the recommended reading section. The report on the patenting of sick dogs was carried by the Wall Street Journal for May 28, 2004. The Washington Post’s report on super mice was published October 1, 2000, and its discussion of patenting and the 13th Amendment on May 17, 2002. The New York Times report on the European human patent confusion appeared on May 14, 2000. The full reference to the Weldon Amendment is: Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2004, Pub. L. No. 108 – 199, 118 Stat. 3, Division B, Title VI, Section 634 (2004). The BIO memo to congressional offices supporting the patenting of embryos was dated September 2, 2003. Richard Doerflinger’s comment was quoted in a press release put out by the National Right to Life Committee on February 4, 2004. The Wall Street Journal’s far-sighted report was published on August 20, 2001. We are grateful to Amber Standridge for helping research this debate. Bob Smietana’s quote is from his article on “When Does Personhood Begin?” in Christian ity Today, July 2004, page 24.
For the deaths of disabled children under the Nazis, see Shawna Parks, New Mobility Magazine, “The Legacy of Nazism,” June 2001, page 86. For more information, visit the Disability Holocaust Project at www.dralegal.org or read By Trust Betrayed: Patients, Physicians, and the License to Kill in the Third Reich by Hugh Gregory Gallagher (Vandamere Press, 1995). For details on the medical team advocating nontreatment for babies with spina bifida, see Not Dead Yet facts, www.notdeadyet.org. The interview with Willard Gaylin is in Harpers Magazine, October 1993. (He is also featured in a quote at the start of the movie Gattaca.) The campaign by disability groups from right and left is reported in an interview with Stephen Drake, Research Analyst for Not Dead Yet, 7521 Madison Street, Forest Park, IL 60130, www.notdeadyet.org. Not Dead Yet is a vigorous disability rights group. Journalist Neil Munro was writing for Washington Monthly in November 2002.
Chapter 11
David Cohn’s report was at Wired.com, October 26, 2004. Simon Collins’s report about Kevin Warwick was in the New Zealand Herald for July 6, 2004. Selmer Bringsjord’s article is in the Chronicle of Higher Education, November 3, 2000. Bill Joy’s famed article has been reprinted in many places and is highly readable. It originally appeared as the cover article in Wired magazine for April 2000. The quote from James Hughes of the World Transhumanist Association was posted to a Listserv. The report Converging Technologies for Improving Human Performance was published in 2002 by the National Science Foundation, an agency of the US government. The story on Jim Wilson’s monkeys is in the Boston Globe for November 2, 2004. Science News wrote on H. Lee Sweeney’s work on October 30, 2004. John Piper’s comment is quoted from “Brokenhearted Joy,” World Magazine, December 13, 2003.