wfn.org | NCC Names Ecumenical Human Genetics Policy Development

["Carol Fouke" <carolf@ncccusa.org>]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NCC NAMES MULTIDISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE PLUS SENIOR SAGES TO LEAD ECUMENICAL
REFLECTION ON HUMAN GENETIC TECHNOLOGY

February 12, 2004, NEW YORK CITY - A multidisciplinary Human Genetics Policy
Development Committee and a blue-ribbon complement of Senior Sages will
lead the U.S. ecumenical communitys work over the next two years on issues
of human genetic technology.

Named by the National Council of Churches, the committee was mandated by the
NCCs General Assembly in November 2003, which charged it to replace the
Councils now outdated 1986 policy, Genetic Science for Human Benefit,
with a new policy.  The committees work will guide both the educational
outreach and public policy efforts of the Council as it seeks to offer
meaningful theological and ethical reflection on this fast-moving field of
science.

Many of us can scarcely imagine the ways in which new biotechnologies will
impact human life, said the Rev. Dr. Eileen W. Lindner, NCC Deputy General
Secretary for Research and Planning, New York City, who is staffing the NCC
s work on human genetic technology.

Nearly everyone agrees that the use of biotechnologies to alleviate human
misery, disease and suffering ought to be encouraged, she said. Likewise,
a majority of Christians would have some reservations about the unbridled
application of technologies to human life in ways that alter the nature of
human life itself-for example, the issue of designer babies.

The policy development committee will address moral and ethical implications
of the whole range of applications of human genetic technology, along with
such related issues as equality of access, regulatory issues and so forth,
said Dr. Lindner, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

With science moving so fast, at a time when church staffs are downsizing,
few churches are able to keep up and develop policy relative to the emerging
technology, she said.	For these reasons, the NCCs effort, with the
outstanding expertise that we have been able to assemble, clearly is being
welcomed.

Whether you are talking about a Washington office advocating for regulatory
standards or a pastor quietly counseling a couple in their home, the
Christian church, writ large and small, has need of policy guidance. We hope
to be able to offer that in some measure, with an eye toward both justice
and pastoral care.

The work of the Human Genetics Policy Development Committee is staffed by
the NCC and will be enabled by $15,000 in funding from NCC member
communions, $25,000 from the CSFund and $35,000 from the Appleton
Foundation.

European and Canadian churches also have been active on issues of human
genetic technology.  For example, the Canadian Council of Churches and
Evangelical Fellowship of Canada were granted intervener status in the
oncomouse case when it was before the Supreme Court of Canada.  On
December 5, 2002, that court published its decision that a genetically
modified mouse, developed in the early 1980s by two scientists at Harvard
University, was not an intervention within the meaning of Canadas Patent
Act.

The CCC has published a booklet, Life: Patent Pending (available at
http://www.ccc-cce.ca/english/docs/oncomouseebook.pdf) as a
discussion-starter for people in church networks who want to consider
questions of biopatenting, questions that presumably will come before the
Parliament of Canada in the foreseeable future.

The 16 men and women who make up the newly named NCC committee include
ethicists, a pediatrics genetics counselor, a genetic scientist, educators,
seminarians, theologians, clergy and denominational and ecumenical leaders.
Committee members represent a diversity of ages and racial/ethnic
backgrounds, and include a person with disabilities.

Serving as a consulting group to the policy development committee are seven
Senior Sages persons of high stature and long experience with the ethical
issues related to application of biotechnologies to humans.  Their guidance
will be sought throughout the two-year life of the committee.

Ms Clare Chapman, an NCC vice president who serves as Executive Director of
Finance and Administration for the United Methodist Church General
Commission on Church Unity and Interreligious Concerns, New York City, has
been named chair of the policy development committee.

I have long been interested in human genetics issues, going back to my time
in law school where I studied the legal aspects of these issues, she said.
This is one area where the secular and religious parts of our lives very
significantly overlap.	This surely is an important issue for the churches
to have resources at hand to help them.

Ms Chapman added, The last statement, in 1986, was good for its time, but
so much has happened since then.  We need new resources and a new way of
having dialogue.

The Human Genetics Policy Development Committee will build on work done by
an earlier Exploratory Committee on Human Genetic Technologies, which in
2002-2003 reviewed NCC and member communion statements, studies and other
materials concerning biotechnology along with their existing education,
outreach and advocacy work related to biotechnology and public policy.

The exploratory committees report and recommendations were delivered to the
NCCs 2003 General Assembly and resulted in the call for a new policy.

This spring, the NCC will make available a study guide for use by
congregations, ecumenical councils, seminaries and other groups, based on
the book Enough by Bill McKibben, which offers ethical reflection from a
Christian perspective.	McKibben, a United Methodist, is one of the Senior
Sages supporting the NCC policy development committee.  The book and study
guide offer an opportunity to gain a basic understanding of biotechnologies
and the opportunities and challenges of their human application.

Names of members of the new Human Genetics Policy Development Committee and
Senior Sages group follow.

Committee

Ms Clare Chapman [Chairperson] - United Methodist Church, New York City,
National Denominational Layleader
Ms Jacqueline Cho - Presbyterian Church (USA), Ardmore, Pa., Seminarian
Mrs. Blythe Crissman - United Methodist Church, Duke University Medical
Center, Durham, N.C., Pediatric Genetics Counselor
Dr. Donald L. Cronkite - Reformed Church in America, Hope College Science
Center, Holland, Mich., Professor/Theologian
Fr. Demetrios Demopoulos - The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America,
Fitchburg, Mass., Clergy
The Rev. James Fenimore - United Methodist Church, Christ Church, Troy,
N.Y., Clergy/PhD
Mr. Victor Franklin - United Methodist Church, Atlanta, Ga., Seminarian
The Rev. Bill Gaventa - The American Baptist Churches in the USA, The Boggs
Center, New Brunswick, N.J., Educator/Disabilities Advocate and Chaplain
Dr. Christine Gudorf, ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, Miami Beach, Fla., Ethics
Professor
Mr. David Leslie - Ecumenist, Portland, Ore., Director, Ecumenical
Ministries of Oregon, a member of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
Dr. Gerald McKenney - Presbyterian Church (USA), South Bend, Ind., Medical
Ethicist
Bishop Serapion - Coptic Orthodox Church, Los Angeles, Calif.
The Rev. Wallace Charles Smith - PROGRESSIVE NATIONAL BAPTIST CONVENTION,
Washington, D.C., Pastor
Dr. Peter Sulyok - Presbyterian Church (USA), Louisville, Ky.,
Denominational Staff/Theologian
Dr. Olivia White - United Church of Christ, Cleveland, Ohio, Genetic
Scientist/Denominational Executive (Executive Minister, Wider Church
Ministries)
Dr. Anne Wimberly - United Methodist Church, Atlanta, Ga., Seminary
Professor

Senior Sages

Dr. Cynthia Cohen - Episcopal Church, Garrett Park, Md., Academic
Sociologist
Dr. Troy Duster - African Methodist Episcopal Church, New York, N.Y.,
Academic Sociologist
Dr. Christine Holland - United Church of Christ, Laytonsville, Md., Retired,
PhD, Genetics/Medical Researcher/Public Health Educator
Dr. Neil Lamb - United Methodist Church, Emory University, Lilburn, Ga.,
Medical/Genetic Medicine
Mr. Bill McKibben - United Methodist Church, Middlebury, Vt., Writer/Thinker
Dr. Robert Pollack - Jewish, New York, N.Y., Professor of Biology and
Genetics/Science and Religion
The Rev. Dr. Larry Rasmussen - Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, New
York, N.Y., Seminary Ethicist

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