Joe Perry's work in GM research - Bioethics

My first study of some of the ethical issues surrounding GM crops, which includes a summary of the Farm Scale Evaluations as at spring 2001, was a conference proceedings chapter, which can be downloaded as a .pdf file: Perry, J.N. (2001) Genetically Modified Crops. pp. 22-91 in: Genetic Engineering, Volume XV in the 'Christ and the Cosmos' series. Edited by Brenda Beamond. Proceedings of the Consultation held in London Colney, 20-22 April 2001. ISBN 0953036057. The Christ and the Cosmos Initiative sought to "bring together people from all walks of life who are interested in knowing more about the relationship between science and religion." They were one of several organizations that seek to build bridges between Christianity and science. They held a weekend conference, every year, on a different topical theme. The Genetic Engineering book includes chapters from Professors John Bryant, Derek Burke and Sir Brian Heap and Drs Caroline Berry and Carolyn King. Part of this 'Christ and the Cosmos' article was excerpted for a book, Genetically Modified Foods: Debating Technology published in late 2002 by Prometheus Books, NY (ISBN: 1-57392-996-4), in their 'Contemporary Issues' series. The paperback book runs to 350 pages. It costs $20 and is a multi-authored assemblage, edited by Michael Ruse & David Castle. It has contributions from, amongst others, Greenpeace, Mary Lou Guerinot, Ingo Potrykus, Vandana Shiva, Gordon Conway, Prince Charles, Richard Dawkins, Florence Wambugu and Tony Trewavas. The page numbers for my piece are given from the reprinted contents list, below, which also lists the co-authors in my section. Another organization that regularly discusses bioethical issues raised by GM crops is Christians in Science, a professional Christian group for all who are concerned about science/faith issues. Among its 600+ members are scientists engaged in research and development, science lecturers, teachers and administrators in universities and schools, science writers, philosophers, theologians, and others who have an interest in the relationship between science and Christian faith. Its membership includes not only several very distinguished senior scientists, but also students who are working for science degrees, and school pupils who are studying science. For further details on membership, contact the CiS Secretary, Dr Caroline Berry. The group co-sponsors a series of public lectures, with St Edmunds College, Cambridge, under the direction of its Master, Professor Sir Brian Heap. The series is entitled Science, Religion & Society. A recent contribution was by Professor Sir Ghillean Prance, former Director of Kew Gardens, who spoke on Preserving Biodiversity - is there a biblical reason? Download Ghillean Prance's full lecture and discussion from the St Edmunds college website. The group is a sponsor of the international, refereed journal Science and Christian Belief, published twice a year by Paternoster Press. The journal is concerned with all aspects of the interactions of science and religion, with particular reference to Christianity. A guest editorial by past-President Professor Derek Burke (1999, Genetically modified foods: why so much concern?, Science & Christian Belief, 11, 2-4) dealt with questions such as: are GM crops unnecessary because enough food is already produced in the world to feed everyone, and that it is inequitable distribution, not production per se that is the root problem? I have a paper in this journal: Perry, J.N. (2003) Genetically-Modified Crops. Science & Christian Belief, 15, 141-163. Click here to download a .pdf version of the paper. Dr Keith Davies Millenium essay for the journal Nature put forward the novel idea that the public psyche still uses a Platonic/Aristotelian paradigm of ideal types to understand the genetic relationship between individuals and species, rather than the Darwinian concept of the unique genetic individual, and it is this that explains the abhorrence with which the public view genetic modification of plants. See Davies, K. (2000) What links Aristotle, William Blake, Darwin and GM crops? Nature 407, 135 and Davies, K. (2001) What makes genetically modified organisms so abhorrent? Trends in Biotechnology, 19, 424-427.

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