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We are scholars, students, and activists working for a biotechnology that places the health and welfare of people and the natural environment above financial interests.
We network, speak, and publish on the social implications of biotechnological developments, especially those concerning human genetic manipulation. Areas of interest include reproductive and genetic technologies, human egg harvesting, cloning research, disability rights, biotech patenting, human-animal hybrid research, and synthetic biology.
We relate the social, political, and economic conditions common to the rise of human genetic engineering and of other genetically modified organisms (GMOs), recognizing that human commodification and the commodification of the natural environment are products of the same social processes.
We invite you to begin by checking out "AHB 101" for a thumbnail sketch, recommended readings, and short videos concerning the cultural politics of biotechnological development. Throughout the site look for AHB NOTES in red for explanations of terminology, concepts, or technologies. A red AHB QUERY offers a challenge or reflection.
Please bookmark our site. Tell your Facebook or other social networking friends and colleagues about AHB. And be sure to visit GET ACTIVE! for suggestions on how you can help work for a humane biotechnology.
Welcome!
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Board of Directors:
Diane Beeson, Ph.D.
Associate Director
Patricia Jennings, Ph.D.
Treasurer
Abby Lippman, Ph.D.
Becky McClain, M.S.
Catherine Powell
Secretary
M. L. Tina Stevens, Ph.D.
Executive Director
| Advisory Board:
Elaine Draper, J.D., Ph.D.
Justine Durrell, J.D.
Rosann Greenspan, Ph.D.
Emilia Ianeva, J.D., Ph.D.
David King, Ph.D.
Rabbi Michael Lerner
*Paul K. Longmore, Ph.D.
Jeff Lustig, Ph.D.
Margaret F. Lynch, Ph.D.
Stuart A. Newman, Ph.D.
Marsha Saxton, Ph.D.
Stephen Shmanske, Ph.D.
Sheila R. Tully, Ph.D.
Casey Walker
Peter J. Whitehouse, M.D., Ph.D.
Malcolm Zaretsky, Ph.D, MPH
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Project Consultants:
James E. Stevens
Kathleen Sloan
Director, Student Affairs:
Nicole B. Marchand
Director, Continuing Education:
Stephanie C. Smith
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Founding Members:
Diane Beeson, Ph.D.
Joan Higgs
Emilia Ianeva, J.D., Ph.D.
Nicole Marchand
Frances Santiago
Ashley Silverthorn
M. L. Tina Stevens, Ph.D.
James E. Stevens, J.D.
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A must see: ETC Group's Jim Thomas offers an incisive, eloquent social analysis of "synthetic biology" (in just 10 minutes, 18 seconds -- you have to see it to believe it!)
AHB NOTE: What is Synthetic Biology?
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AHB NOTE:
"ART" is an acronym for "assisted reproductive technology."
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AHB NOTE:
See also Newman's, "My attempt to patent a human-animal chimera," where he relates that Philip Leder, Chair of the Genetics Department, Harvard Medical School stated in 1998 that, “[t]he creation of chimeras is an outlandish undertaking. No one is trying to do it at present, certainly not involving human beings.” Such a comment contrasts starkly with Great Britain's recent green-light for creating human-animal embryos and offers a dramatic example, once again, of biotech's slippery ethical slope.
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