Philosopher and Scientist to Speak at Bates

A philosopher and scientist will discuss whether environmental chemicals damage human reproduction at Bates College on March 28 at 7:30 p.m. in Room 104 of the Olin Arts Center. The public is invited to attend free of charge.

Sheldon Krimsky, professor of urban and environmental policy at Tufts University, has received more than 15 grants including awards from the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. His research has focused on the linkages between science/technology, ethics/values and public policy. The author of five books including Genetic Alchemy: The Social History of the Recombinant DNA Controversy (MIT Press, 1982) and the forthcoming co-author of Agricultural Biotechnology and the Environment (University of Illinois Press), Krimsky has written more than 100 essays and reviews.

A consultant to the Presidential Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research and to the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, Krimsky served on the National Institutes of Health’s Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee from 1978-81. He also served on a special study panel for the American Civil Liberties Union that formulated a policy on civil liberties and scientific research. From 1988-92 he served as chairperson of the Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility for the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Currently, Krimsky serves on the board of directors for the Council for Responsible Genetics and as a fellow of the Hastings Center.

Krimsky received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physics from Brooklyn College, CUNY and Purdue University respectively, and a master’s degree and doctorate in philosophy from Boston University.

The lecture, “Are Environmental Chemicals Damaging Human Reproduction?: The Social and Scientific Origins of the Environmental Endocrine Hypothesis,” is sponsored jointly by the philosophy and biology departments and the Environmental Studies program at Bates.