PEALS had a strong presence at both the International Network on Feminist Approaches to Bioethics (FAB) and International Association of Bioethics (IAB) World Congress, recently held in Edinburgh between 13 -17 June 2016.

Jackie Leach Scully had a busy time at FAB’s congress. As a member of the Advisory Board of FAB she was involved in some of the organization of the congress, as well as giving a talk entitled ‘Repairing Narrative Vulnerability: a New Moral Obligation?’ in a session on care and narrative in bioethics.  This paper described the vulnerability of people forced through physical or social transformations to develop a new identity, and argued that there is a collective moral responsibility to support them in this process. She also presented the Donchin-Holmes Prize for Emerging Scholars to Zohar Lederman, on a panel dedicated to the memory of Professor Anne Donchin, and chaired a session on ‘Research and Technologies’.

A reception was held on Monday evening to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the launch of the ‘International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics’ (IJFAB). This also marks the stepping down of its founding editor Professor Mary Rawlinson of Stony Brook University, and the arrival of a new editorial team led by Jackie. She also chaired the Editorial Board’s meeting, particularly appreciating its interdisciplinary membership drawn from around the globe.

Later in the week at IAB, Jackie was co-author together with Professor Hilde Lindemann, Michigan State University, on a poster entitled ‘Soldiers and their Families’, which examined the relative moral claims of families, the military, the public and the state on the bodies of the military dead. She also chaired a session on organ donation.‌

‘Are we making progress in Bioethics?’ 

Erica was invited by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics (of which she is a member) to participate in a plenary panel at the IAB, addressing the questions ‘Has bioethics contributed to scientific progress?’ and ‘Has bioethics itself progressed?’ She joined Professor Ruth Macklin, from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, Professor Christian Munthe, of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden and Professor Calvin Ho, from the National University of Singapore and the chair, Professor Jonathan Montgomery, who is also Chair of the Nuffield Council, to deliberate these questions.  Erica argued that, despite Stephen Pinker’s admonition for ‘bioethics to get out of the way’ because he claims it is impeding scientific progress, bioethics actually contributes to scientific progress by asking searching questions. Bioethics should collaborate with the life sciences, not acting as an ethical fig leaf but as a critical friend – and that sometimes necessarily entails ‘getting in the way’.

Symposium: UK mitochondrial research and legislation: cutting edge or out on a limb?‌

Erica Haimes and Ken Taylor organised a successful and well attended symposium as part of the IAB World Congress.  The event addressed questions of what, empirically, other countries might learn from the UK’s approval of human germline alteration in the context of mitochondrial disease interventions and, normatively, whether other countries should adopt the same or different policies. 

Chaired by Simon Woods, the four papers presented in the symposium questioned the adequacy of the claims made during the UK debates; each highlighting different aspects of the proposed new technologies that aim to prevent the transmission of mitochondrial disease.

Erica presented work that she and Ken are conducting on the quality and tenor of the recent debates in the UK on legalising ‘mitochondrial transfer’ techniques.  The presentation identified a number of socio-ethical issues that require clarification to ensure that other countries might have a more rounded debate before considering legislation.

Dr Cathy Herbrand, Senior Lecturer at de Montfort University, Leicester, and a member of the Belgian Advisory Committee on Bioethics, presented some of her research with families who are living with mitochondrial disease.  She revealed that the rather simplistic public discourses around mitochondrial replacement were at odds with the complex reproductive choices faced by these families, for many of whom the technology remains inappropriate.

Dr Ilke Turkmendag, Lecturer in the Newcastle Law School, presented on her continuing work on the identification of gamete donors and the donor conceived child’s ‘right to know’.  She noted that since donor conceived individuals can access identifying information about their genetic origins, individuals conceived from mitochondrial donation will be discriminated against as they will be denied such identifying information.

Ken presented the work of Dr Annelien Bredenoord, Associate Professor at the Julius Centre, Utrecht as she was unable to attend.  Her paper concerned the recent advisory report on mitochondrial donation from the US National Academy of Sciences, highlighting the differences between the UK and US contexts and noting that the UK did not provide a simple model that the US could follow. 

Professor Sheryl de Lacey, Flinders University, Adelaide, took the role of discussant, introducing a wider international flavour to the subject and reflecting on her role as a member of the two Australian National Health and Medical Research Council committees that are currently addressing mitochondrial transfer issues.  This led the symposium into a wide-ranging, thoughtful and engaging discussion amongst those present.  The subjects raised included questions about the level of detail publics should, and actually, have about these complex technologies, the speed with which the legislation was enacted in the UK, and the implications for the number of egg providers that will be required worldwide. 

Erica and Ken extend their thanks to the all the speakers and delegates for making the symposium such a success, and to the Wellcome Trust for providing the funding to enable it.