Series Looks at Cloning And Related Questions

A year-long Ithaca Opportunity Program series examining cloning and related ethical questions began July 10 with a talk by Henrietta Hyatt-Knorr, acting deputy executive director of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission.

Entitled "Cloning: Technological Marvel—Ethical Quandary," Knorr’s talk presented a government perspective on that controversial issue. Established by presidential executive order, the bioethics commission’s primary responsibility is to provide guidance to federal agencies on the ethical conduct of current and future human biological and behavioral research. Members of the commission reflect a broad range of expertise in the fields of philosophy and theology, law and medicine, biology, and other social and behavioral sciences. Knorr, a sociologist by training, has been with the federal Department of Health and Human Services since 1986.

Ethel David, director of Ithaca College’s IOP, says the visit by Knorr is of great importance to the program’s summer students. "One of our goals is to move students from high school thinking to intellectual, higher-education thinking," says David. "We want to encourage, to stir intellectual thought, and this topic has national and international implications."

Interdisciplinary in its approach, the IOP series will later feature views of cloning from medical, psychological, and other perspectives.