Ana Lita, Director of the IHEU-Appignani Center for Bioethics, is to speak at an informal lunch at the UN. She will be speaking at the invitation of the UN Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women. The meeting will discuss some of the bioethical controversies surrounding the growth of biotechnology. The diversity and rapid growth of biotechnological applications are creating new possibilities for reshaping our lives, in particular our procreative practices. In this vein, yesterday’s questions of “could we?” are quickly being overshadowed by worries of “should we?” Novel developments include human egg markets,tissue and organ transplantation, and the recently announced vaccine for cervical cancer, a disease which kills approximately 300,000 women each year–mostly from the developing world.
The talk will take place on 6 June 2006 from 1.15 to 2.30 pm in conference room DC2-1282 at 2 UN Plaza, New York City.