Hastings Center

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The Hastings Center, founded in 1969, is an independent, nonpartisan, non-profit bioethics research institute dedicated to examination of essential questions in health care, biotechnology, and the environment. The center has over 200 fellows, including many physicians, attorneys, PhDs and bioethicists.

[edit] Publications

The center is best known as the publisher of Hastings Center Report and IRB: Ethics & Human Research bring together scholarship and commentary in bioethics for readers worldwide. The Morison Library serves as a resource for Center research associates, fellows, visiting scholars, and others. Center staff members write and speak on a variety of topics, serve as consultants, and assist members of the press.

[edit] Research

The Center's projects, carried out by interdisciplinary research teams, range from "stem cell politics", to globalization and its impact on health status, to "science in the age of big pharma". Primary research areas include genetics and biotechnology, health care and health policy, ethics, science, the dnvironment, and international science ethics. The center strives to frame and explore issues that inform professional practice, public conversation, and social policy.

The center conducts seminar-style meetings to review developments in science and policy, frame legal and social issues, and in-depth critical reflection on fundamental principles and values. The Center is funded by grant money and other sources, including, at various times, donations from Merck, Roche, and Eli Lilly, which casts doubt on its self-proclaimed non-partisanship and independence.