Emerging Technologies
New technologies emerge all the time. Some technologies, however, are transformative: they introduce new forms of control, both through formal systems of regulation and by informally shaping our behaviour. They have profound impacts and are often disruptive; they affect the way we work and play; they influence our mobility and lifestyle. They offer hope and possibility while introducing new fears and unintended consequences.
How should we think about these radical technologies? Too often our social reactions to new technologies occur only in hindsight, after a technology has penetrated the marketplace. However, recent experience teaches that much may be gained by practising forethought and foresight. Emerging Technologies addresses the ethical, legal, and social dimensions of emerging technologies and assesses their social and policy implications. Contributors examine the development, impact, and governance of new technologies emerging from a variety of fields, including biotechnology, genetics, stem cell research, pharmacology, and nanotechnology.
Edna F. Einsiedel is a professor of Communication Studies at the University of Calgary.
Contributors: Benjamin R. Bates, Tania Bubela, Michael Burgess, Timothy Caulfield, Edna F. Einsiedel, Rose Geransar, William Hallman, Susanna Hornig Priest, Holly Longstaff, Ed Levy, Emily Marden, Chika B. Onwuekwe, Vural Ozdemir, Peter W.B. Phillips, Lorraine Sheremeta, Patrick A. Stewart, Stuart Smyth, James Tansey, Paul B. Thompson, Jacopo Torriti, Michele Veeman, and Bryn Williams-Jones
Introduction: Making Sense of Emerging Technologies / Edna F. Einsiedel
Part 1: Hindsight Learnings
1 GM Foods in Hindsight / William Hallman
2 Patentable Subject Matter: Who Owns What Knowledge? / Chika B. Onwuekwe
3 Patents in the Public Sphere: Public Perceptions and Biotechnology Patents / Edna F. Einsiedel
Part 2: Foresight Applications
(Transgenic) Animal Farm
4 Of Biotechnology and Blind Chickens / Paul B. Thompson
5 Transgenic Salmon: Regulatory Oversight of an Anticipated Technology / Emily Marden, Holly Longstaff, and Ed Levy
Fields of Pharmas: Plant Molecular Farming
6 The Emerging Technology of Plant Molecular Farming / Michele Veeman
7 Policy and Regulatory Challenges for Plant-Made Pharmaceuticals in the United States / Patrick A. Stewart
8 Forestalling Liabilities? Stakeholder Participation and Regulatory Development / Stuart Smyth
In the Stem Cell Fields
9 When Human Dignity Is Not Enough: Embryonic Stem Cell Research and Human Cloning in Canada / Tania Bubela and Timothy Caulfield
Drugs – Up Close and Personal: Engaging Pharmacogenomics
10 Banking on Trust: Issues of Informed Consent in Pharmacogenetic Research / Rose Geransar
11 Pharmacogenomic Promises: Reflections on Semantics, Genohype, and Global Justice / Bryn Williams-Jones and Vural Ozdemir
12 Envisioning Race and Medicine: BiDil and the Insufficient Match between Social Groups and Genotypes / Benjamin R. Bates
Is Small Really Beautiful? Does Size Matter? Nanotechnologies
13 Nanotechnology and Human Imagination / Susanna Hornig Priest
14 Nanotechnology: The Policy Challenges / Lorraine Sheremeta
Part 3: Governance Challenges and Emerging Technologies
15 Technology, Democracy, and Ethics: Democratic Deficit and the Ethics of Public Engagement / Michael Burgess and James Tansey
16 Impact Assessments and Emerging Technologies: From Precaution to “Smart Regulation”? / Jacopo Torriti
17 Technology Ownership and Governance: An Alternative View of IPRs / Peter W.B. Phillips
18 Conclusion: Reflections on Emerging Technologies / Edna F. Einsiedel
Index
The Intellectual Property–Regulatory Complex
Overcoming Barriers to Innovation in Agricultural Genomics
Edited by Emily Marden, R. Nelson Godfrey, and Rachael Manion
