From owner-embldatabank@net.bio.net Wed Jan 04 22:00:00 1995 Path: biosci!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!uhog.mit.edu!nntp.club.cc.cmu.edu!newsfeed.pitt.edu!uunet!fonorola!inforamp.net!woody16.inforamp.net!intermed From: intermed@inforamp.net (Ian Clarke) Newsgroups: bionet.molbio.embldatabank Subject: Attention Canadian Researchers Date: Thu, 5 Jan 1995 12:53:52 Organization: InfoRamp Inc. Lines: 19 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: woody16.inforamp.net X-Newsreader: Trumpet for Windows [Version 1.0 Rev A] Inter Medico is the Canadian distributor for many of the world's leading molecular biology companies. Inter Medico represents Genzyme(cytokines, chemokines, cell adhesion molecules), Novagen (pET bacterial expression systems, mRNA purification systems), Amresco (fine chemicals, thermostable DNA polymerases, nucleic acid isolation kits), SLT (ELISA readers, fluorometers, microplate washers), BioDesign (a huge selection of biologically important antibodies), and The Binding Site ( clinically-relevant antibody-based diagnostic systems). As part of Inter Medico's continuing dedication to the Canadian research community, we have established a user-group to share the latest information about molecular biology products designed to save you time and money. There are valuable discounts available only to subscribers. There is no charge to join. If you are interested in joining, please send an e-mail message to Majordomo@inforamp.net. In the body of the letter, type Subscribe Research . Join today, and start enjoying the benefits immediately. From owner-embldatabank@net.bio.net Wed Jan 04 22:00:00 1995 Newsgroups: bionet.drosophila,bionet.general,bionet.genome.arabidopsis,bionet.genome.chrom22,bionet.genome.chromosomes,bionet.immunology,bionet.info-theory,bionet.jobs,bionet.journals.note,bionet.metabolic-reg,bionet.molbio.ageing,bionet.molbio.bio-matrix,bionet.molbio.embldatabank,bionet.molbio.evolution,bionet.molbio.gdb,bionet.molbio.genbank,bionet.molbio.gene-linkage,bionet.molbio.genome-program,bionet.molbio.hiv Path: biosci!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!gatech!newsfeed.pitt.edu!uunet!xnet!quake.xnet.com!research From: crta@xnet.com (Norman Fraley) Subject: New Research & Testing Association Formed Message-ID: Sender: news@amiserv.chi.il.us Nntp-Posting-Host: research.crta.org Organization: Contract Research & Testing Association X-Newsreader: News Xpress Version 1.0 Beta #2 Date: Thu, 5 Jan 1995 20:52:00 GMT Lines: 66 Xref: biosci bionet.drosophila:777 bionet.general:12714 bionet.genome.arabidopsis:2789 bionet.genome.chromosomes:390 bionet.immunology:2755 bionet.info-theory:3047 bionet.jobs:6983 bionet.journals.note:371 bionet.metabolic-reg:390 bionet.molbio.ageing:1085 bionet.molbio.bio-matrix:526 bionet.molbio.embldatabank:419 bionet.molbio.evolution:2265 bionet.molbio.gdb:273 bionet.molbio.genbank:1873 bionet.molbio.gene-linkage:506 bionet.molbio.genome-program:1101 bionet.molbio.hiv:814 As the primary resource of research information, the Internet was the primary choice for making all concerned individuals aware of the formation of the Contract Research & Testing Association. CRTA is an International Association designed to serve the needs of contract research, product and process development organizations and consultants throughout the world. Contract research organizations have specific public, governmental, and industry perception and promotion needs which are not addressed by existing scientific industry associations. CRTA operates as a non-profit, tax-exempt, corporation eligible for scientific research and public awareness charitable organization contributions as provided for in the IRC 501(c)(3) provisions. Being a scientific research and public awareness related organization, CRTA exists to benefit its members by providing: 1) An organization devoted to the promotion of Contract Research. 2) A unified voice on matters of common interest or concern. 3) Point of contact for media relations relative to contract research. 4) Business opportunity referrals as a research clearinghouse. 5) Professional networking opportunities for its members. 6) Periodic publishing of information beneficial to the membership. 7) Periodic dissemination of applicable research results to the public. 8) Governmental representation on issues affecting CRO's. 9) Public promotion of the strengths of its membership. 10) A directory of Contract Research Organizations and Consultants. CRTA will provide: 1) A forum for the exchange of information. 2) Formal recognition to the CRO's role in business. 3) Standards for the professionals so engaged. 4) Representation the profession in matters of common interest. 5) The development of techniques and methods to improve the practice and management of CROs. CRTA will also offer: 1) A monthly news publication. 2) Annual meetings 3) Active promotional media publicity programs. 4) A professional placement service 5) A Contract Research Service Directory. 6) Media topics and contacts directory If you have an interest in joining the Contract Research & Testing Association, please E-mail your reply to crta@xnet.com. Please include: 1) The word "membership" in your RE: or header information, 2) Your interest in the association / your area of work, 3) Your dues payment preference (check, money order, credit card, company check, wire xfer, etc.) DO NOT INCLUDE ANY CREDIT CARD INFORMATION! Only your preference for the manner of payment. 4) Most importantly, your email address, and additional contact information if you desire. We will then e-mail membership information and ALL FURTHER INFORMATION directly to you at your email location. Thank you for taking the time to read this announcement. If membership in this program this does not appeal to you, thank you for your patience and understanding. Sincerely, Membership Department Contract Research & Testing Association Best Regards, Norman Fraley CRTA@xnet.com Executive Director BBS:708-515-0494 Contract Research & Testing Association From owner-embldatabank@net.bio.net Wed Jan 04 22:00:00 1995 Path: biosci!biosci!not-for-mail From: kristoff@net.bio.net (David Kristofferson) Newsgroups: bionet.molbio.embldatabank Subject: Re: Attention Canadian Researchers Date: 5 Jan 1995 15:40:30 -0800 Organization: BIOSCI International Newsgroups for Biology Lines: 14 Distribution: world Message-ID: <3ei01e$fsg@net.bio.net> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: net.bio.net This kind of use of our newsgroups is not authorized. We have many other corporate users who are good citizens and work within the commercial guidelines mentioned in our FAQ. We would appreciate it if you did likewise. The FAQ is available by FTP/gopher/Mosaic on net.bio.net. Sincerely, Dave Kristofferson BIOSCI/bionet Manager biosci-help@net.bio.net From owner-embldatabank@net.bio.net Wed Jan 11 22:00:00 1995 Path: biosci!CS.Arizona.EDU!news.Arizona.EDU!hamblin.math.byu.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!news.moneng.mei.com!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!sunic!umdac!news From: Xiao-Ru.Wang@genfys.slu.se (Xiao-Ru.Wang) Newsgroups: bionet.molbio.embldatabank Subject: sequence alignment Date: 12 Jan 1995 12:50:44 GMT Organization: SLU, Umeå Lines: 11 Message-ID: <3f38j4$10t@kitten.umdc.umu.se> NNTP-Posting-Host: b212.genfys.slu.se Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: Text/Plain X-Newsreader: WinVN 0.92.1 Hi, Can anyone recommend me a multi-sequence alignment program? I have a group of DNA sequences with known EMBL/GenBank ID # and would like to align them and compare the sequence differences. Is there any accessible net-program exist that can retrieve the specified sequences with accession # from database and then make the alignment? BLAST does not suite my problem since I do not have query sequence. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time! X-R. Wang From owner-embldatabank@net.bio.net Thu Jan 12 22:00:00 1995 Newsgroups: bionet.molbio.embldatabank Path: biosci!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk!sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk!hgmp.mrc.ac.uk!ebi.ac.uk!jecop From: jecop@ebi.ac.uk (Jeroen Coppieters) Subject: Re: sequence alignment Message-ID: Sender: news@ebi.ac.uk (Mr news) Organization: European Bioinformatics Institute X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] References: <3f38j4$10t@kitten.umdc.umu.se> Date: Thu, 12 Jan 1995 13:12:06 GMT Lines: 40 Xiao-Ru.Wang (Xiao-Ru.Wang@genfys.slu.se) wrote: : Hi, : Can anyone recommend me a multi-sequence alignment program? : I have a group of DNA sequences with known EMBL/GenBank ID # and : would like to align them and compare the sequence differences. Is there : any accessible net-program exist that can retrieve the specified sequences : with accession # from database and then make the alignment? : BLAST does not suite my problem since I do not have query sequence. : Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time! : X-R. Wang This is not an available net program, another solution. You can get clustalv from ftp.ebi.ac.uk directory /pub/software/(dos or unix or mac or vax) The sequences can be retreived from the same site: the easiest way is to use SRS via WWW URL: http:/www.ebi.ac.uk/srs/srsc alternative you can use the email server: send mail to netserv@ebi.ac.uk (give HELP in the mail-body to get a description of how it works) Jeroen -- ====================================================================== . O . Jeroen Coppieters . O O o O . Software Support O O O O *o O O Jeroen.Coppieters@ebi.ac.uk O O O O( *o )O O ++44 1223 494422 )O O O O o* O O( O O O O( o* )O O )O O O O *o O O( EMBL Outstation EBI O O O O( *o )O O (European Bioinformatics Institute) )O @ O O o* O O( Hinxton Hall O O O( o* )O(' Hinxton ` O( *o O ' Cambridge CB10 1RQ ` O ' UK http://www.ebi.ac.uk ====================================================================== From owner-embldatabank@net.bio.net Sun Jan 15 22:00:00 1995 Path: biosci!agate!sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk!warwick!univ-lyon1.fr!news From: duret@evoserv.univ-lyon1.fr (Laurent Duret) Newsgroups: bionet.molbio.genome-program,bionet.molbio.genbank,bionet.molbio.embldatabank,fr.bio.genome Subject: Yeast chromosome VI Date: 16 Jan 1995 07:36:08 GMT Organization: Universite Claude Bernard - Lyon 1 Lines: 34 Distribution: world Message-ID: <3fd7l8$pfk@cismsun.univ-lyon1.fr> Reply-To: duret@evoserv.univ-lyon1.fr NNTP-Posting-Host: evoserv.univ-lyon1.fr Xref: biosci bionet.molbio.genome-program:1115 bionet.molbio.genbank:1887 bionet.molbio.embldatabank:424 Hello, I have been said that yeast chromosome VI was nearly ready for publication by a Japanese group. Can anyone confirm this information ? What is the length of yeast chromosome VI ? When will it be available ? Thank you for your help. Laurent Duret PS: for a good pointer to all available yeast complete chromosomes, try the 100 kb Club (by Keith Robinson): http://golgi.harvard.edu/100kb/ ================================================================ Laurent Duret duret@biomserv.univ-lyon1.fr Tel: +33 72.44.81.42 Fax: +33 78.89.27.19 Laboratoire de Biometrie, Genetique et Biologie des Populations Bat 741 - URA CNRS 243 Universite Claude Bernard - Lyon I 43, Bd du 11 Novembre 1918 69622 Villeurbanne cedex FRANCE ================================================================ From owner-embldatabank@net.bio.net Wed Jan 18 22:00:00 1995 Path: biosci!biosci!not-for-mail From: omond@ebi.ac.uk (Roy Omond) Newsgroups: bionet.announce,bionet.molbio.embldatabank,embnet.general Subject: EBI Network services downtime Friday 20-Jan-1995 ... Date: 18 Jan 1995 18:04:49 -0800 Organization: European BioInformatics Institute Lines: 14 Sender: biohelp@net.bio.net Approved: bionews-moderator@net.bio.net Distribution: world Message-ID: <1995Jan18.171937@ebi.ac.uk> NNTP-Posting-Host: net.bio.net Xref: biosci bionet.announce:1702 bionet.molbio.embldatabank:425 Note: the network server facilities of the EBI (Netserv, Quick, FastA) will be unavailable this Friday, 20-Jan-1995, from 09:00 local UK time until some time late Friday evening, while we do a bit of "disk reorganisation". *NOT* affected are our anonymous ftp server, Gopher, and WWW servers. Roy Omond System Manager European Bioinformatics Institute European Molecular Biology Laboratory Hinxton, UK. From owner-embldatabank@net.bio.net Wed Jan 18 22:00:00 1995 Newsgroups: bionet.molbio.embldatabank Path: biosci!daresbury!sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk!hgmp.mrc.ac.uk!ebi.ac.uk!stoehr From: stoehr@ebi.ac.uk (Peter Stoehr) Subject: CD-ROM distribution (Dec 94) Message-ID: <1995Jan18.201445@ebi.ac.uk> Lines: 6 Sender: news@ebi.ac.uk (Mr news) Organization: European BioInformatics Institute Date: Wed, 18 Jan 1995 19:14:45 GMT For CD-ROM subscribers, we have taken delivery of our December 1994 release (EMBL 41, Swiss-Prot 30) and completed testing of it. All disks should be despatched from the UK over the next couple of days. Peter Stoehr EMBL - EBI From owner-embldatabank@net.bio.net Wed Jan 18 22:00:00 1995 Newsgroups: embnet.general,bionet.molbio.embldatabank,bionet.general Path: biosci!bcm!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!news.sprintlink.net!pipex!sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk!hgmp.mrc.ac.uk!ebi.ac.uk!omond From: omond@ebi.ac.uk (Roy Omond) Subject: EBI services unavailable Friday 20-Jan-95 Message-ID: <1995Jan19.113657@ebi.ac.uk> Lines: 13 Sender: news@ebi.ac.uk (Mr news) Organization: European BioInformatics Institute Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 10:36:57 GMT Xref: biosci bionet.molbio.embldatabank:427 bionet.general:12982 Please note that the e-mail-based network services of the EBI (Netserv, Quick, FastA) will be unavailable on Friday 20-Jan-95 from 09:00 local UK time until some time in the evening while we do some "disk reorganisation". *NOT* affected are EBI's anonymous ftp, Gopher and WWW servers. Roy Omond System Manager European Bioinformatics Institute European Molecular Biology Laboratory Hinxton, UK. From owner-embldatabank@net.bio.net Thu Jan 19 22:00:00 1995 Path: biosci!bcm!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!news.sprintlink.net!EU.net!uknet!daresbury!not-for-mail From: pgtaylor@hgmp.mrc.ac.uk (Mr. P.G. Taylor) Newsgroups: bionet.molbio.embldatabank Subject: authorin program Date: 20 Jan 1995 15:13:20 -0000 Lines: 6 Sender: lpddist@mserv1.dl.ac.uk Distribution: bionet Message-ID: <3fojug$sag@mserv1.dl.ac.uk> Original-To: embl-db@dl.ac.uk Can I get a copy of this program for Mac? Can you FTP it?!! Paul Taylor Natural History Museum London pgt@nhm.ac.uk From owner-embldatabank@net.bio.net Fri Jan 20 22:00:00 1995 Newsgroups: bionet.molbio.embldatabank Path: biosci!daresbury!hgmp.mrc.ac.uk!ebi.ac.uk!harper From: harper@ebi.ac.uk (Rob Harper) Subject: Re: authorin program Message-ID: Lines: 14 Sender: news@ebi.ac.uk (Mr news) Reply-To: harper@ebi.ac.uk Organization: European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL) - UK X-Newsreader: mxrn 6.18-16 References: <3fojug$sag@mserv1.dl.ac.uk> Distribution: bionet Date: Fri, 20 Jan 1995 16:36:23 GMT In article <3fojug$sag@mserv1.dl.ac.uk>, pgtaylor@hgmp.mrc.ac.uk (Mr. P.G. Taylor) writes: > >Can I get a copy of this program for Mac? Can you FTP it?!! > >Paul Taylor >Natural History Museum London >pgt@nhm.ac.uk > You can get it from the EBI at the address ftp.ebi.ac.uk in the directory /pub/software/mac RGDS-=ROB=- From owner-embldatabank@net.bio.net Sun Jan 29 22:00:00 1995 Path: biosci!bcm!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!ix.netcom.com!netcom.com!csus.edu!news.ucdavis.edu!rocky!ez006804 From: Phandaal Newsgroups: bionet.molbio.ageing,bionet.molbio.bio-matrix,bionet.molbio.embldatabank,bionet.molbio.evolution,bionet.molbio.gdb,bionet.molbio.gene-linkage,bionet.molbio.genome-program,bionet.molbio.hiv,bionet.molbio.rapd,bionet.molbio.yeast Subject: controversies & ethics Date: Mon, 30 Jan 1995 11:59:15 -0800 Organization: University of California, Davis Lines: 37 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: rocky.ucdavis.edu Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Sender: ez006804@rocky Xref: biosci bionet.molbio.ageing:1203 bionet.molbio.bio-matrix:531 bionet.molbio.embldatabank:430 bionet.molbio.evolution:2374 bionet.molbio.gdb:279 bionet.molbio.gene-linkage:513 bionet.molbio.genome-program:1135 bionet.molbio.hiv:850 bionet.molbio.rapd:949 bionet.molbio.yeast:2260 I've been asked to give a lecture to upper-division college students on the controversies and ethical considerations in producing transgenic organisms, especially transgenic plants. It's been a while since I gave this lecture, and so I was wondering if anybody had any good examples of controversies or ethical considerations that I could incorporate into the talk. Two I can think of off-hand are: 1) introducing insecticidal proteins (such as the Bacillus thuringiensis protein) into plants may create resistant insect populations (under the force of heavy selection pressure), which could then overrun the resistant plants and make worthless the efforts by conventional growers who *use* Bt protein as a topical pesticidal spray. 2) altering fatty acid metabolism in oil-crops (like canola) so that they produce oils found chiefly in palm and coconut could severely damage the palm oil and coconut oil industries in Third World countries... thus severely depressing the economies of these already struggling countries. If you are aware of any other similar cases, or simply have a point which you think would be useful for the lecture, I'd appreciate hearing from you! Thanks, Peter Schuerman plschuerman@ucdavis.edu />>/>>/>> In nature there are neither rewards nor <<\<<\<<\ \>>\>>\>> punishments--there are consequences. <>/>>/>> <>\>>\>> From owner-embldatabank@net.bio.net Mon Jan 30 22:00:00 1995 Path: biosci!rutgers!uwm.edu!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!swiss.ans.net!emi.com!pauling.wadsworth.org!rebecca!labonnes From: labonnes@csc.albany.edu (S. LaBonne) Newsgroups: bionet.molbio.ageing,bionet.molbio.bio-matrix,bionet.molbio.embldatabank,bionet.molbio.evolution,bionet.molbio.gdb,bionet.molbio.gene-linkage,bionet.molbio.genome-program,bionet.molbio.hiv,bionet.molbio.rapd,bionet.molbio.yeast Subject: Re: controversies & ethics Date: 31 Jan 1995 01:21:34 GMT Organization: University at Albany, SUNY Lines: 39 Message-ID: <3gk3au$pdp@rebecca.albany.edu> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: freia.albany.edu Xref: biosci bionet.molbio.ageing:1206 bionet.molbio.bio-matrix:532 bionet.molbio.embldatabank:431 bionet.molbio.evolution:2376 bionet.molbio.gdb:280 bionet.molbio.gene-linkage:514 bionet.molbio.genome-program:1138 bionet.molbio.hiv:851 bionet.molbio.rapd:950 bionet.molbio.yeast:2266 In article , Phandaal wrote: >I've been asked to give a lecture to upper-division college students on >the controversies and ethical considerations in producing transgenic >organisms, especially transgenic plants. It's been a while since I gave >this lecture, and so I was wondering if anybody had any good examples of >controversies or ethical considerations that I could incorporate into the >talk. > >Two I can think of off-hand are: > >1) introducing insecticidal proteins (such as the Bacillus thuringiensis >protein) into plants may create resistant insect populations (under the >force of heavy selection pressure), which could then overrun the resistant >plants and make worthless the efforts by conventional growers who *use* Bt >protein as a topical pesticidal spray. > >2) altering fatty acid metabolism in oil-crops (like canola) so that they >produce oils found chiefly in palm and coconut could severely damage the >palm oil and coconut oil industries in Third World countries... thus >severely depressing the economies of these already struggling countries. My problem with these examples is that I see nothing about them that is unique to transgenic technology. Similar sorts of problems are raised all the time by "conventional" technologies, including very ancient ones like selective breeding. An analogue to 1 is simply overuse of pesticides (or antibiotics for that matter), which can render them worthless in the way you describe. And 2 in no way raises ethical issues different from, say, starting a palm oil industry in Key West, possibly after selective breeding of oil palms to produce strains that give high yields there. Indeed, I doubt that there _are_ any ethical issues which depend _specifically_ on agricultural use of biotechnology as opposed to agricultural technologies in general. -- Steve LaBonne *********************** (labonnes@csc.albany.edu) "It can never be satisfied, the mind, never." - Wallace Stevens From owner-embldatabank@net.bio.net Mon Jan 30 22:00:00 1995 Path: biosci!rutgers!uwm.edu!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!uunet!news.u.washington.edu!roach From: roach@u.washington.edu (Jared Roach) Newsgroups: bionet.molbio.ageing,bionet.molbio.bio-matrix,bionet.molbio.embldatabank,bionet.molbio.evolution,bionet.molbio.gdb,bionet.molbio.gene-linkage,bionet.molbio.genome-program,bionet.molbio.hiv,bionet.molbio.rapd,bionet.molbio.yeast Subject: Re: controversies & ethics Date: 31 Jan 1995 20:52:25 GMT Organization: University of Washington Lines: 28 Message-ID: <3gm7u9$t5e@nntp1.u.washington.edu> References: <3gk3au$pdp@rebecca.albany.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: saul3.u.washington.edu Xref: biosci bionet.molbio.ageing:1212 bionet.molbio.bio-matrix:533 bionet.molbio.embldatabank:432 bionet.molbio.evolution:2379 bionet.molbio.gdb:282 bionet.molbio.gene-linkage:515 bionet.molbio.genome-program:1140 bionet.molbio.hiv:853 bionet.molbio.rapd:951 bionet.molbio.yeast:2273 While it is true that there is to a first approximation nothing that one can do with transgenic agriculture that could not be done with traditional plant breeding, there is no denying that recombinant DNA is MUCH faster. This to me is the crux of the ethical issue. Not what, or even why, but how fast. It would presumably take a very long time to breed arctic fish with strawberries to get frost resistant strawberries (or more likely, to select over umpteen generations of strawberries for the same trait). Now one might argue that the speed of recombinant research has two dangers: 1) The rest of the ecosystem is not changing as fast to modify itself so as to maintain some kind of ecological "balance." Furthermore, scientists may be slower to understand ecological impact than they are in developing new organisms. 2) The human race as a whole (or national governments, or individuals) is slow to reach consensus on ethical issues (i.e. religion, abortion, the creation of new species, etc.) Science should slow its pace of discovery to allow Ethics to catch up. There are excellnt counterpoints, but I will allow others to continue the dialectic. Jared Roach Dept. of Molecular Biotechnology University of Washington roach@u.washington.edu From owner-embldatabank@net.bio.net Tue Jan 31 22:00:00 1995 Path: biosci!bcm!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!swiss.ans.net!emi.com!pauling.wadsworth.org!rebecca!labonnes From: labonnes@csc.albany.edu (S. LaBonne) Newsgroups: bionet.molbio.ageing,bionet.molbio.bio-matrix,bionet.molbio.embldatabank,bionet.molbio.evolution,bionet.molbio.gdb,bionet.molbio.gene-linkage,bionet.molbio.genome-program,bionet.molbio.hiv,bionet.molbio.rapd,bionet.molbio.yeast Subject: Re: controversies & ethics Date: 1 Feb 1995 00:39:33 GMT Organization: University at Albany, SUNY Lines: 37 Message-ID: <3gml85$fb5@rebecca.albany.edu> References: <3gk3au$pdp@rebecca.albany.edu> <3gm7u9$t5e@nntp1.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: bathsheba.albany.edu Xref: biosci bionet.molbio.ageing:1216 bionet.molbio.bio-matrix:534 bionet.molbio.embldatabank:433 bionet.molbio.evolution:2381 bionet.molbio.gdb:283 bionet.molbio.gene-linkage:516 bionet.molbio.genome-program:1141 bionet.molbio.hiv:856 bionet.molbio.rapd:952 bionet.molbio.yeast:2275 In article <3gm7u9$t5e@nntp1.u.washington.edu>, Jared Roach wrote: > Now one might argue that the speed of recombinant research >has two dangers: > 1) The rest of the ecosystem is not changing as fast to >modify itself so as to maintain some kind of ecological "balance." >Furthermore, scientists may be slower to understand ecological impact >than they are in developing new organisms. This is not an ethical issue until the ecological problems are shown to be more concrete than vague forebodings. Even then, it is not an ethical problem of a new _kind_, being nothing more than the familiar tradeoffs between benefits and environmental impact that must be considered in the case of virtually _any_ technological change. > 2) The human race as a whole (or national governments, or >individuals) is slow to reach consensus on ethical issues (i.e. >religion, abortion, the creation of new species, etc.) Science >should slow its pace of discovery to allow Ethics to catch up. There is much to be said for this contention, but again biotechnology is not unique in giving rise to such considerations. I still say there are _no_ ethical considerations that are _unique to biotechnology as such_, and I fail to see the case for singling out biotechnology in an ethics course; what's more, this tends to give scientifically naive students, and members of the public, an irrational fear of biotechnology over and above other technologies. Naturally, biotechnology can serve as a valuable source of _examples_ in discussions of the ethics of applying new technologies in general. -- Steve LaBonne *********************** (labonnes@csc.albany.edu) "It can never be satisfied, the mind, never." - Wallace Stevens From owner-embldatabank@net.bio.net Tue Jan 31 22:00:00 1995 Path: biosci!daresbury!trane.uninett.no!sunic!pipex!pipex!howland.reston.ans.net!news2.near.net!das-news2.harvard.edu!casaba.srv.cs.cmu.edu!bb3.andrew.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!hb10+ From: "Howard M. Bomze" Newsgroups: bionet.molbio.ageing,bionet.molbio.bio-matrix,bionet.molbio.embldatabank,bionet.molbio.evolution,bionet.molbio.gdb,bionet.molbio.genome-program,bionet.molbio.hiv,bionet.molbio.rapd,bionet.molbio.yeast,bionet.molbio.gene-linkage Subject: Re: controversies & ethics Date: Wed, 1 Feb 1995 17:31:58 -0500 Organization: Doctoral student, Biology, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA Lines: 15 Message-ID: References: <3gk3au$pdp@rebecca.albany.edu> <3gm7u9$t5e@nntp1.u.washington.edu> <3gml85$fb5@rebecca.albany.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: po2.andrew.cmu.edu In-Reply-To: <3gml85$fb5@rebecca.albany.edu> Xref: biosci bionet.molbio.ageing:1221 bionet.molbio.bio-matrix:535 bionet.molbio.embldatabank:434 bionet.molbio.evolution:2387 bionet.molbio.gdb:284 bionet.molbio.genome-program:1144 bionet.molbio.hiv:858 bionet.molbio.rapd:953 bionet.molbio.yeast:2278 bionet.molbio.gene-linkage:518 Steve Bonne has been saying that there are no new ethical considerations for agricultural biotechnologies. However, he has been missing one very important one, that is the possibility of an engineered gene to be transfered to a different species. The transgenic plant not only has the sequences of the desired gene, it also contains the sequences which are necesary to insert the gene into the genome. So a question which must be looked at is this: If a gene for herbicide resistance has been put into a corn plant so that that herbicide can be used to kill all of the crab grass in the corn field, what happens if the gene is transfered to the crab grass? There are also ethical problems with other non-agricultural biotechnology. Howard Bomze