Volume 1, Issue 5
ISU
professor Clark Ford is proof that science and ethics are not necessarily separate
entities. Through his work, Ford has combined the two in an effort to better
the world.
"I tend to be attracted to projects that will solve world problems instead of mindlessly creating technology," Ford said of his research interests.
The results of those interests can be found in the classes he teaches at Iowa State University, including the Issues in Biology course for graduate students in life science fields. Issues in Biology is a two-credit course taught every spring semester with Charles Drewes, a professor in the Zoology and Genetics department. Ethical issues in a variety of life science aspects are covered in the class in a discussion format, including evolution vs. creationism, animal rights, cloning, environmental ethics, and human food issues.
Discussion of human food issues in the class is easy for Ford to initiate. As professor in Food Science and Human Health and Zoology and Genetics, Ford teaches a course called World Food Issues: Past and Present that explores the issues of feeding the hungry around the world.Current agricultural techniques will not be able to indefinitely sustain feeding a world population that will double in the next 50 years, Ford said. A sustainable agriculture will need to be created to feed the world; Ford said he hopes technology can help.
"There will need to be a values shift," he said. "Sustainable agriculture is like Social Security-an investment in our future. It requires the whole population to be supportive, because it will require higher prices."
As a genetic engineer, Ford got involved in the Bioethics Program at Iowa State because of the importance the program placed on addressing issues he was working on. He currently incorporates ethical discussions in all the classes he teaches, from ethical issues in plants to animals to microbes. He discusses both the general arguments against genetic engineering technology, such as scientific arrogance and playing God, to the specific, more scientific arguments about issues ranging from genetically modified plants to the production of pharmaceutical products in milk.
Recently, Ford gave a speech entitled "Ethics and GMOs" in which he discussed the ethical issues surrounding the use of genetically modified organisms. In presenting both sides of the issue, Ford summarized that both sides must seek to understand each other. Ford concluded that the engineering of food has the potential to be very positive, but the problems must be envisioned and responded to.
Ford's approach to science isn't merely research and experiments; he tries to look beyond scientific discovery into history and social effects on science. "Science doesn't stand alone," he said. "It is influenced by the values of society."
Tuesday, March 21, 2000
7:00 p.m., Meeting of ISU Humane Society, "Why animal rights defenders
should defend the production of transgenic animals", Gary Comstock, Coordinator
of ISU Bioethics Program, 236 Memorial UnionWednesday, March 29, 2000
12:00 p.m., Lecture, "Why Sex? A Biological Question with Too Many Answers",
Carla Fehr, ISU philosophy, sponsored by ISU Women's Studies, 353 Catt Hall.
7:30 p.m., Performance, "The Longing to Understand", Jane Cox, ISU music, one-woman play about Nobel Prize winner Barbara McClintock, a corn geneticist who discovered "jumping genes", dessert reception follows in the Scheman Building, $35 ($50 for two people) , Fisher Theater, 515-294-0966.
Thursday, March 30, 2000
3:30 p.m., Faculty workshop, "Using Technology to Increase Interaction
with Students", Jim Colbert, ISU botany, using web-based technology to
increase teacher/student and student/student interaction in large introductory
courses, free, 1230 Communications Building
Wednesday/Thursday, April 5 and 6, 2000
8:00 a.m. - 5:00 pm Wednesay, 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Thursday, Seminar, "Plant-Derived
Biologics Seminar and Public Hearing", Scheman Building. For more information,
go to: http://www.vetmed.iastate.edu/iicab/transpl.htm
Tuesday, April 11, 2000
8:00 p.m., Lecture, "The Problems of Genetic Engineering in Agriculture",
Martha L. Crouch, associate professor of biology at Indiana University, W142
Lagomarcino Hall. For more information, contact Jill Bystydzienski, Director,
Women's Studies Program, at 515-294-9733 or e-mail bystydj@iastate.edu.
Thursday - Sunday, June 29 - July 2, 2000
Seminar, "Biosynthesis of Glucose Polysaccharides", sponsored by the
Plant Sciences Institute, Scheman Building. For more information and to register,
go to: http://molebio.iastate.edu/~gfst/phomepg.htm
Don't forget to look on the Bioethics Program web site for more information on how you can apply to be a part of the Bioethics Institutes for this summer. Two Institutes will be held: one at North Carolina State University in Raleigh and the second at Fundacao Luso-Americano Developmento in Lisbon, Portugal. General information on these Institutes, as well as application forms, are available at: http://www.biotech.iastate.edu/Bioethics/institute.htm. Deadline for the NCSU recently passed, but late applications will be considered as space allows. The application deadline for the Institute in Lisbon is April 30.
Published six times per year
by the ISU Office of Biotechnology
and the Bioethics Program.
To subscribe, send an e-mail to: bioethics@iastate.edu
or call 515-294-7356.
Editor: Dena Huisman
Iowa State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, sex, marital status, disability, or status as a U.S. Vietnam Era Veteran. Any persons having inquiries concerning this may contact the Director of Affirmative Action, 318 Beardshear Hall, 515-294-7612.
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Last Update 05/23/03
