NRES 5482
Course registration # 63980
3 cr.
Spring 2003
3:00-6:00 pm M
326 Green Hall, St. Paul

Instructed by
Anne R. Kapuscinski &
Emily E. Pullins

Scientists and regulators are now developing methods to ensure the equitable and safe use of biological technologies, such as genetic engineering and cloning, and their products, such as transgenic fish, trees and crops. One of the most important new analytical approaches to assessment and management of these new technologies is the burgeoning field of biosafety science. Using a combination of methods such as risk assessment, risk management, safety engineering and formal deliberative techniques, biosafety science will provide scientifically sound approaches in the use of new biological technologies.

Along with biosafety science, we will explore the innovations in safety policy that may be necessary for appropriate management and use of biotechnologies. How, we ask, can biotechnological science and its products be openly examined and managed for safety by independent scientists, governments, industry, and concerned citizens? We will explore existing policy programs, national and international, that govern the use of biological technologies currently, and then explore how a focus on safety at the earliest stages of product development may result in changes to existing policies.