MEDIA CONTACT: Debra Kain
561-297-2010, dkain@fau.edu

FAU to Host Public Seminar on Stem Cell Research

BOCA RATON, FL (October 11, 2004) - Florida Atlantic University's Division of Research and Graduate Studies will present "Stem Cells: Science, Ethics and Public Policy," an educational seminar exploring issues relevant to stem cell research. The seminar, which is free and open to the public, will be held on Monday, October 18, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in the University Theatre, located in the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters on FAU's Boca Raton campus. This event is co-presented by the Florida Catholic Conference.

The seminar will address various aspects of stem cell research from scientific, legal, ethical and religious perspectives. Each panelist will make a 10-minute presentation, followed by a question and answer session with the audience.

Seminar panelists include Dr. Larry F. Lemanski, vice president for Research and Graduate Studies at FAU; Father Tadeusz (Tad) Pacholczyk, Catholic priest, medical doctor and director of Education at the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia; Bernard Siegel, an attorney and executive director of the Genetics Policy Institute in Coral Gables, FL; Dr. Alan L. Berger, Raddock Eminent Scholar Chair for Holocaust Studies at FAU, and Dr. Robin N. Fiore, Adelaide R. Snyder Professor of Ethics at FAU.

Bernard Siegel, who will address public policy concerns related to stem cell research as well as serve as moderator for the event, is a recognized authority on human cloning and stem cell policy. He has appeared on the CBS Evening News, CNN, CNN International, MSNBC, CTV and network news broadcasts around the world including Japan, Russia and the Republic of Korea. Most recently, he appeared before the United Nations to testify in favor of therapeutic cloning. Siegel was the attorney who uncovered the alleged first cloned baby, "Baby Eve," as a sham. He established the Genetics Policy Institute and works with leading scientists from around the world to establish a universal legal framework to advance scientific research for cures.

Other panelists will talk about scientific progress in stem cell research and its potential in fighting disease; political issues surrounding restrictions on embryonic stem cell research; alternatives such as adult stem cells; research ethics, and the moral ramifications of therapeutic cloning from both Catholic and Jewish perspectives.

-FAU-