DOE Human Genome Program Contractor-Grantee Workshop VIII
February 27-March 2, 2000  Santa Fe, NM

140. EINSHAC's Genetics Adjudication Resource Project

Franklin M. Zweig

The Einstein Institute for Science, Health & the Courts, 2 Wisconsin Circle, Suite 700, Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815

www.einshac.org

einshac@intr.net

Beginning in March, 1997, the Genetics Adjudication Resource Project (GARP) has operated from the center of the judicial system to provide science education in ELSI-related genetics to the nation's state and federal courts. 14 regional conference have been conducted involving 1,200 judges in three day meetings to apply the impact of the genomic era to the administration of justice in a changing legal environment. Approximately 250 science advisors from the National Laboratory system and academic science and health centers have anchored the series. An evaluation of the Western States Conference on Genetics in the Courtroom was recently published. See F. Zweig and D. Cowdrey, "Educating Judges for Adjudication of New Life Technologies," 83,3 Judicature 157 (November-December, 1999).

The Project's aim is to involve 2003 judges by the Year 2003. In addition to basic genetics education conferences, advanced subjects and policy-oriented meetings have been conducted and are scheduled for the future. Biomarkers, neuro/behavioral genetics, and biological property conferences have been conducted. Planned for the future are conferences on the Adjudication of Claims Related to Bioremediation and Environmental Health & Safety Activities; Adjudication of Biomedical Claims of Causation and Treatment in Cases Involving Violent Conduct Disorders; and Adjudication of Claims Over Genetically Modified Food and Agricultural Products.

The leadership conference series concerns itself with the direction of the law and gaps in policy. The GARP's Policy Courts Conference on Genetics Issues is scheduled for the Summer of 2001. An International Judicial Conference on ELSI/Genetics Issues will be planned in The Hague in April, 2001 and conducted a year later if funding permits. A bi-lateral Canadian/American Working Conversation on Biotechnology Advance, Biological Property and Ethics is scheduled for Banff, Canada, June 23-25, 2000.

New adjudication issues require new tools for the courts. Accordingly, the Project is testing remote access of neutral, independent experts for the courts; instructional witnesses for juries; and procedures for science neutrals in court-annexed alternative dispute resolution proceedings. The help of the Lawrence Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore and Oak Ridge National Laboratories has been indispensable in the adjudication tools assessment program. The added assistance of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has proved supportive as well. NIEHS and DOE have executed an interagency agreement to fuel the GARP's advanced conferences, leadership conferences, and court-related tools programs.

Cases are key to judicial perspectives about issues created by the explosive growth of life technologies. To assure the availability of durable handbooks for judges in the United States and elsewhere, a Case Review Workshop is scheduled April 20 - 23, 2000 in conjunction with the Medical University of South Carolina. Judges from the United States and three global regions have been invited to critique five cases presenting complex fact patterns hinging on scientific evidence; adjudication issues for courts; state of the science summaries; and state of the law summaries. While EINSHAC prescribes no outcomes and recommends no judicial orders, we have become known for the provision of a full spectrum of considerations in aid of effective judicial case management. The Case Review Workshop systematizes that quest and is resulting in several judicial handbooks built around the case law. The first, The Judges' Handbook on Neuro and Behavioral Genetics, will be available in Summer, 2000.