Research future: Scientific research needs to involve members of the public in decisions in the way patients' associations are now involved in "steering medical research", a EU conference has been told.
The suggestion came from Anne Fagot-Largeault, chairwoman of the philosophy of biological and medical sciences at the College of France in Paris. She was addressing a conference on "Modern Biology: visions of Humanity" in Genoa yesterday, hosted by the European Commission.
Her comments prompted the European Commissioner for Research, Phillippe Busquin, to consider whether the EU should fund "social acceptability" projects within scientific research.
Expanding on the issue of "social acceptability", Luigi Luca Cavalli Sforza, professor of genetics at Stanford University in the US, explained how in spite of the growth of a fear of genetics, the practice of abortion following genetic testing revealing severely handicapped foetuses was accepted "by parents in Italy which is probably the most Catholic country in the world".
The two-day conference, which was organised by the European Research Commissioner and the European Group on Life Sciences, brought together leading biologists, philosophers, psychiatrists, theologists and anthropologists from Europe and the US to discuss the ethical and social challenges for scientific research.
The noted English neurobiologist and professor of biology at the Open University, Steven Rose, spoke of his concern of the lack of human responsibility if everything can be explained by genetics or social circumstances.
"In the United States now, there are claims that psychopathic behaviour can be predicted from brain imagery and there is also the suggested use of genetic defence in the accusation of murder," he said.
"And what really troubles me is the view that we can be adjusted pharmacologically. Where is the individual human responsibility in all of this? We need much more proactive discussion of these issues."
Professor of sociology at the University of Constance in Germany, Karin Knorr Cetina, said "our social imagination" was now stimulated by life sciences and there was a belief among the public that life sciences may be able to fulfil our dreams of longevity and the lack of illness.
The English theologian and lecturer at the Faculty of Divinity, Cambridge University, Fraser Watts, took the opposing view, citing a public ambivalence towards life sciences, saying they were put off by the "ideological reductionism of scientists". We need a moral community which is able to appreciate the ethical issues raised by science," he said.
Quoting a study in which only 43 per cent of people became depressed though they all shared "a depression gene", the Czech psychiatrist, Cyril Hoeschi, said genes would never be able to fully explain our emotional life.
At the end of the first day of this major international gathering, the respect for science was upheld, not least because there was a distinct absence of groups opposing such advances as stem cell research. Clearly, the raison d'etre of this conference is to gain a consensus among the academics first before opening the debate to the wider public.
The long-term aim is to gain the support of Europe's citizens for future scientific and technological advances so the EU can become the world leader "in a consensual knowledge-based society and economy by the end of this decade".