Policy and Strategy Presentation

• In an anti-regulation environment, is government regulation the solution?
• Nobody talks about what professional self-regulation means. It is very lax, which is a major challenge in holding people and institutions accountable.
• Policy driven bodies at all levels of government (e.g., elite commissions) are not sufficient forms of democratic public engagement or deliberation.
• "Ethics Lite" is a problem. Techno-enthusiasts, techno-libertarians and others often use ethics discourse as an attempt to legitimate their work and policy approaches.
• Fragmented and weak government oversight of public funding for science and technology is weak and uncritical.
• Lawmakers and regulators "captured" by the biotech industry and by many patient advocacy groups that are techno enthusiasts is a serious problem, particularly in an era when science and technology are promoted as a necessary economic engine.
• Need to partner with allies in human rights and disabilities communities, environmental health and justice communities, and communities of color.
• Need to develop long-term strategy (funding, partnerships, dissemination, advocacy) to develop evidence-based analysis of our issuse of concern, e.g., monitoring and documenting funding for certain research (genetic research/genetic health/genetic testing, synthetic biology, etc.) and monitoring and documenting impacts of the research on individuals, families, commuties (harms, benefits, no impact at all, etc