Posted by
RobertB on Tuesday, July 25, 2006 4:09:18 PM
Want to comment on William French Anderson's California conviction on child molestation
USC Geneticist Pasadena Star News 7/20/2006 ,
William French Anderson - Wikipedia,
The Scientist magazine 7/20/2006and there was also a
case in Maryland that was thrown out due to evidence technicalities.
There are many great researchers in the biotech field and perhaps Dr. Anderson was one of the best. But is it hitting a man when he's down or pertinent reporting to note of his connections with the "hype and hope" extremes that border on the transhumanist perspective and wonder if manipulation of genes and dreams of mankind's limitless future is at all related to an ego that was proven in court to have manipulated and broken the innocence of a girl (daughter of one of his research staff!!).
Even his defense attorney said
"Nothing about having an IQ of 176 means you have good judgment"
He was founding editor of Human Gene Therapy published by Mary Liebert Inc - Art Caplan is on the bioethics editorial board.
But I'd like to focus more on another Mary Liebert publication, Rejuvenation Research. Aubrey De Grey, Michael West, William Haseltine, Arthur Caplan again, and Dr. Anderson.
All those characters are featured in Wesley Smith's
Consumer Guide to a Brave New World as well as Brian Alexander's "raucous tour of the fast-fading borderland between fringe and mainstream science"
Rapture: How Biotech Became the New Religion.
Where indeed is the borderline between the advance of science and a world of genetic enhancement and talk of immortality?
In 1989, Dr Anderson talked about limits (all references below from
National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature (web site at Georgetown). (underlined italics mine)
"Anderson, W. French. Human Gene Therapy: Why Draw a Line? Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 14(6): 681-693, December 1989. Anderson believes we should draw a moral line at gene therapy for enhancement purposes. The basis for our uneasiness over enhancement therapy lies with the fear that genetic engineering could lead to changes in "human nature."
After his fame in pioneering gene therapy starting in 1990, how did he change?
Anderson, W. French. Human Gene Therapy. Science 256(5058): 808-813, 8 May 1992. Hematologist and gene therapist Anderson describes the first 11 clinical protocols dealing with gene therapy or gene marking. He briefly surveys ethical and social considerations of gene therapy.
Anderson, W. French, and Theodore Friedmann. Gene Therapy: I. Strategies for Gene Therapy. In Encyclopedia of Bioethics. Revised Edition, pp. 907-914. Warren T. Reich, ed. New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1995. The authors describe three different types of somatic cell gene therapy - ex vivo, in situ, and in vivo - and the methods by which genes are transferred to an individual. They detail the criteria necessary for the development of germ-line(reproductive cell) therapy and explain the potential impact of such procedures on society and future generations.
Fletcher, John C., and Anderson, W. French. Germ-Line Gene Therapy: A New Stage of Debate. Law, Medicine and Health Care 20(1-2): 26-39, Spring-Summer 1992. Fletcher and Anderson present an ethical argument that supports the approval of pre-embryo experiments, and compares ethical and social priorities of research in germ-line gene therapy to other human subjects research.
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