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Science and medicine now present both breathtaking possibilities and daunting issues. Scientists have published the genetic sequence comprising the human genome, leading to unprecedented opportunities for preventing, diagnosing, and treating disease. Breakthroughs in plant and microbial genetics are already transforming the way we think about food, with potential for greater yields and food tailored to prevent and treat disease. Scientists are unlocking the secrets of stem cells, creating the potential to grow replacement parts for the human body, rather than allowing people to languish awaiting transplant. We see startling new ways of creating life, from in vitro fertilization with micro-manipulation of gametes and embryos to human cloning. The possibilities seem endless.
But the issues are deeply troubling. Each of these breakthroughs is controversial, some offering great good and some threatening unacceptable harm. And we now face the terrible possibility that the life sciences may be used in bioterrorism and warfare.
While science surges forward--for good and ill--law, ethics, and public policy lag far behind. At the University of Minnesota we are acutely aware of this gap. As a public, land-grant, research university, we have an obligation to do more than advance scientific frontiers. We have to tackle the equally difficult questions of how law, ethics, and policy should analyze and govern these advances. Much as the University is leading on genomics, ecosystem analysis, and infectious disease policy, we have a responsibility to lead on questions of law and values. Those interdisciplinary questions are the most challenging of the 21st century.
The Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment & the Life Sciences tackles these difficult questions that obey no disciplinary borders. Founded in 2000, the Consortium builds on the strengths of University centers and programs, establishing the University of Minnesota as a leading institution working on law and values in health, the life sciences, and the environment. The Consortium links its members to accomplish together what no program can readily do alone.
In October 2003, University of Minnesota President Robert Bruininks named the Consortium one of eight new Presidential Interdisciplinary Initiatives.
The mission of the Consortium is to support work on the legal, ethical, and policy implications of problems in health, environment, and the life sciences. Our goal is to advance knowledge, public understanding, and sound policy. We undertake a wide range of activities including sponsoring public lectures and conferences; managing the peer-reviewed multidisciplinary Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology; offering intramural funding to support faculty and students; recommending faculty hiring and programmatic innovation; encouraging and supporting curricular innovation; facilitating collaborative research; and advising on public policy. Consortium activities are expanding over time in response to the challenges posed by the life sciences and include original research, innovative use of electronic and hard-copy resources, and direct educational offerings. The Consortium is directed by its member centers and programs and is open to all points of view.
Ultimately, the University of Minnesota aims to make a public difference. Through the Consortium and its constituent centers and programs, we are working to shift the Minnesota and national conversation about health, the life sciences, and the environment by bringing law, values, and policy to the forefront. We are pioneering a new kind of cross-disciplinary work fully marrying legal, ethical, and scientific expertise. Finally, we are instilling in our students a new appreciation for the importance of values and the possibilities of rigorous thinking across disciplines.
Susan M. Wolf
McKnight Presidential Professor of Law, Medicine & Public Policy
Faegre & Benson Professor of Law
Professor of Medicine
Chair, Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment & the Life Sciences
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