[Anthsoc] Expert on law and genetic testing next UW Public Anthropology speaker

[Colin Wallace]

*_Expert on law and genetic testing next UW Public Anthropology speaker

_*WATERLOO, Ont. -- An international expert on the social and legal 
consequences of genetic testing will speak next week at the University 
of Waterloo.

Prof. Roxanne Mykitiuk, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University will 
give a public lecture entitled "Reading the Past and Interpreting the 
Future: On Regulating Prenatal Genetic Testing and Preimplantation 
Genetic Diagnosis" on March 10. The event, which starts at 5 p.m., will 
be in the AL (Arts Lecture) building, Room 124.

Prof. Mykitiuk is an internationally recognized expert on disability, 
new medical technologies and public policy. Her lecture addresses the 
social and cultural issues raised by our ever increasing abilities to 
employ technology to diagnose genetic differences in utero.

In particular, she will examine whether reliance on prenatal genetic 
testing leads us to new, more narrowly construed understanding of normal 
human variation. Her research has important implications for public 
policy surrounding euthanasia and assisted dying.

 Prof. Mykitiuk has edited two books, and has authored numerous 
scholarly articles concerning feminism, family violence, genetic 
testing, disability, and healthcare. She holds several research grants 
on these topics.

This is the second event in a series of public lectures sponsored by 
UW's Department of Anthropology. The topic of the series is Public 
Anthropology: The Intersection of Health, Culture and Society.

Human health is arguably the most important public policy issue facing 
Canadians today, and is connected to all other human endeavours, lecture 
organizers said. Prof. Mykitiuk's visit is supported by Learning 
Initiative Funds from the office of the UW Vice-President, Academic and 
Provost.


*Contact:*

*Prof. Pamela Stern, Anthropology, (519) 888-4567, ext. 6925; 
pstern at uwaterloo.ca
Jim Fox, UW Media Relations, (519) 888-4444; jfox at uwaterloo.ca*

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://artslist.uwaterloo.ca/pipermail/anthsoc/attachments/20050228/e0a6bf68/attachment.html