ASIAN FEDERATION OF CATHOLIC MEDICAL ASSOCIATIONS

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Bioethics Conference

An international conference to
celebrate the 30th anniversary of
the Linacre Centre’s foundation

St Mary’s College Strawberry Hill (near London Heathrow)

5-7 July 2007

Organised by Linacre Centre for Healthcare Ethics,London, UK

TOPICS

Incapacity and personhood, non-voluntary euthanasia in Belgium and the Netherlands, research on those unable to consent, reproductive health of mentally ill/intellectually disabled women, non-treatment decisions, responding to the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

SPEAKERS

Archbishop Mario Conti, Fr Benedict Groeschel, Dr David Jones, Dr Bill Sullivan, Dr Wendy Hiscox, Professor Desmond O’Neill, Dr Helen Watt, Dr Aaron Kheriaty, Anthony McCarthy, Dr Philip Howard, Professor John Finnis.

VENUE
Strawberry Hill was originally a small cottage by the River Thames. Horace Walpole, son of Robert Walpole, rented the cottage in 1717 and subsequently bought it; he then set about enlarging the house and adding to the land. Walpole did not follow the eighteenth-century fashion of classical building, but sought his inspiration in medieval styles. Some of his contemporaries imitated his design, and so this house and the idea it embodied take their place in the history of architecture as Strawberry Hill Gothic. The site is now owned by St Mary’s College, a Catholic college of the University of Surrey, and a centre for bioethics teaching and research. It is readily accessible from London Heathrow Airport.

ACCOMMODATION
Reservations have been made for 170 Conference participants to be accommodated in the College. Early booking is therefore strongly recommended. Meals can be provided for non-residential participants. There are a limited number of single rooms with ensuite bathrooms, and also a limited number of standard single rooms (couples and families are invited to book adjacent single rooms). It may be possible for overseas participants to stay at the College the nights before and after the Conference - please contact the Conference Organiser, Lauren Dykes.

HOW TO REGISTER
Provisional bookings may be made by telephone (+44 (0)20 72667410), by fax (+44 (0)20 7266 5424), or by e-mail (admin@linacre.org). Bookings should be confirmed by sending us the completed booking form (available at http://www.linacre.org:80/ConferenceProceedingsAd.htm ) and full payment. Provisional bookings can only be held for six weeks. If payment has not been received within that period, the booking will be automatically cancelled.
The Conference opens at 5.00 pm on Thursday 5 July, and closes with lunch on Saturday 7 July. Some participants may wish to attend the prior meeting of the International Association of Catholic Bioethicists, which runs from 1-5 July at the same site (separate booking required – contact secretariat@iacbweb.org. Please let us know if you have reserved accommodation).

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

FROZEN EMBRYOS

Fate of Frozen Embryos Worrying Swiss Bishops

Swiss bishops are asking their federal government to account for the use and fate of frozen embryos.

The bioethics commission of the Swiss episcopal conference reported gaps and omissions in the official statistics since 2001, and called on the federal office to provide the information lacking from 2001 to 2005.

In a letter sent on Dec. 29 to Adelheid Burgi-Schmelz, director of the Federal Office of Statistics, Dr. Urs Kayser reported that there are "particularly grave" flaws in the census of these embryos conceived in vitro."

"Transparency is lacking in the use of surplus embryos," stated Kayser in the letter, pointing out that this is against Swiss law.

The commission wants to know where the 100 embryos came from which were used for stem cell research. To date, these embryos do not appear in the country's statistics.